Another Heart
by KitsuneVampire
Summary: My take on what Kingdom Hearts would have looked like without the sickening cuteness of Disney. KH: Anime Style
1. Likeness of a Soul

Another Heart

DISCLAIMER: Okay, I don't own any of the animes/mangas mentioned in here, got it? Nor do I own any Square Enix characters that appear. First off, this is a REMAKE of Kingdom Hearts with different characters. Sora, Riku, and Kairi do not exist in here, and there are totally different characters, capice?

CHAPTER 1: Likeness of a Soul

Raphael was falling, no doubt about it. Falling from an endless sky, preparing to plunge into endless darkness. All the world passed by in a fleeting instant, rushing to meet him. He braced himself for the impact, knowing full well it would be his demise. But it never came. He willed himself to open his eyes, only to reveal that he was standing on a large platform. On it was a large picture of some pink-haired girl he did not recognize, but even more intriguing were the three pedestals that rose up out of it.

_To unlock thy heart, thou must choose thy path…_ Raphael gasped at the voice.

"Who's there!" He called. _Thou must choose thy path…What art thou? Art thou true of body?_ A golden sword appeared on the first pedestal. _Art thou true of sight?_ A pair of pistols appeared on the second. _Or art thou true of mind?_ A staff appeared on the last. _Only thou canst choose…_ "Ooookay," Raphael muttered. "May as well…"

He strode up to a pedestal, and picked up the guns, firing them experimentally._ The power of the gunner… The ability to destroy thy foes at a distance… Is this thy path? _Raphael set the pistols down. "No, I don't think so," he said quietly. He examined the staff. The moment it touched his hands, he felt an electric energy course through his veins. _The power of the mage…The ability to conjure your enemies' demise, and your allies' salvation… Is this thy path?_ Once again, Raphael set the weapon down; he was naturally wary of all things magic. So he took the sword, and gave it a practice swing. _The power of the warrior…The ability to defend your friends and vanquish darkness… Be this thy path?_ Raphael pondered that for a moment. "Sure, why not?" he replied.

The voice continued. _Now that thou hast chosen thy path, thou must give something in return…Choose something to relinquish…_ "Figures there'd be a catch," he grumbled. He picked up the staff again. _The power of the mage… You relinquish this power?_ "Yes," Raphael said. This dream was seriously starting to freak him out. _Your path has been chosen…You must not stray from it, lest you be consumed._ A pool of darkness formed around Raphael's feet, and before he could react, fell through again. He landed on another platform, this time sporting an auburn-haired girl dressed in pink, with a catlike creature held in her arms. A door magically appeared on the far end of the platform, and Raphael walked up to it. The voice spoke up again. _This door… thou wouldst do well to remember it…_ Raphael instinctively reached for the handle, but his hand passed right through it. A large wooden box appeared behind him. _To open the door, you must be strong. Show me your strength!_ The sword from before appeared in Raphael's hand. He quickly hacked away at the box, reducing it to splinters in no time. _Very good. However, your strength will not be enough. You must use what you find to keep yourself alive._ A smaller box appeared. Inside was a bottle filled with a blue liquid. Raphael popped out the stopper and drained it in one gulp. He instantly felt energized. He realized that the door now seemed to have gained substance, and he walked up to it, gently knocking on it. Sure it was now solid, he tried pulling on the knob. It wouldn't budge. _Do not worry; the day when thee open the door is both very near and far away…_ This guy was really starting to piss him off. He was about to make some sort of cynical retort, but the door opened in a flash of light.

When he opened his eyes again, he was outside, in his backyard, of all places. Oddly enough, three of his friends were there. He walked up to a boy sitting on his fence, looking out across the sea. His blue hair was tied in a red bandana, and he wore a loose red t-shirt with baggy pants. "Hey, Serge!" Raphael called.

"What makes us strong?" Serge asked disinterestedly. "Where do we get our strength from?"

"Huh?" Raphael was a little put-off by the sudden question. "Have you lost it, man?"

Serge ignored the comment. "Well, are you gonna answer or not?"

Raphael groaned; this dream was getting old fast. "Um… I guess strength comes from within…"

Serge looked away. "Can we really survive on our own?" Raphael backed away, and turned instead to another boy with long black hair and a blood-red cloak, who was sitting underneath a tree.

"Maybe Vincent is at least normal…" Raphael strode over to the older boy. "Hey Vince! What's up!"

Vincent looked at Raphael absently. "What is it you fear most?"

Again with the crazy questions. "Well, if I had to pick one thing, I'd have to say… dying."

Vincent gave him a skeptical look. "Is death… really all that bad?"

Raphael shook his head in disgust. Couldn't he have a normal dream, just once? He finally turned to a red-haired girl in a purple skirt. Her hair was tied up in pigtails, and she was leaning up against the wall of his house, looking very bored. Raphael called out to her. "Hey, Mint!"

Mint turned to look at him. "What's most important to you?" she asked quietly. "What do you find most precious?"

"That's easy! My friends are most important to me!" Raphael snapped, with just a little more venom than intended.

"But isn't your own well-being important to you?" She asked. Then, the image of his backyard disappeared, leaving Raphael in darkness again.

The voice returned. _Thou cherish thy friends most of all. Thou fear death. Thou believeth power flows from within. Thy path is set; thou art almost ready_…

Yet another platform materialized beneath him. This one had a picture of a black-haired woman in what looked like a sailor fuku, and a quiver was slung over her back, along with a bow. There was nothing to speak of on this particular platform. _Thou hath done well, but how shalt thou fare against thy enemy?_ A black, imp-like creature came out of the floor. It stood about three feet in height, and sported two small and tattered wings. It leapt at him, and he frantically dodged out of the way, slashing at it. It dissipated into a pool of darkness, and disappeared._ Beware those that have no souls; they will drag thee into darkness…_At that moment, a huge number of the shadow things materialized all around him. _Let thy light shine strong, lest you fail, and be devoured by darkness._ He hacked and slashed at the little demons, which dropped like so many flies beneath a flyswatter. He discovered that they left behind little orbs of light, which his body absorbed on contact. The instant he touched one, he felt a wave of energy flood his body, and was healed somewhat. Once he'd felled a good ten or so, the rest retreated and disappeared. A staircase appeared nearby, leading to _another_ platform. Raphael jogged up the stairs, noticing that each step he climbed, the one behind him disappeared. When he reached the next platform, he noted it had another strange girl depicted on it. Her flaming orange hair was spiked all over the place, and she wore goggles. A baggy white t-shirt and skintight black shorts completed her image, and she was clutching a brown and white dog in her arms.

_However,_ the voice continued,_ beware, for the closer thou art to light, the greater thy shadow is…_ Raphael looked nervously behind him. His shadow had grown to nearly three times its usual size, and there was something not right about it; it was moving _on its own_. It rose up, and slowly transformed into a giant version of the monsters he'd met before, with much bigger wings and indeed, much bigger fists. Twin red eyes pierced through its otherwise featureless face. "Wonderful," Raphael said sarcastically. "I have to beat that thing!"

The monster threw a punch at the floor, which was dodged. As Raphael slashed at the hand again and again, some of the little shadow creatures appeared. While he fought those off, the fist withdrew, and the giant thing leaned back, releasing balls of energy from a hole n its chest. Raphael dodged these, and the remaining imps were obliterated. It punched the floor again, conjuring the little imp-things. Suddenly, an idea struck Raphael. He ran up the thing's arm, and repeatedly slashed the creature's head. Finally, it let loose a bloodcurdling scream of agony, and disappeared. The platform faded out, and the voice said faintly, _Now, thou art ready for this journey… Do not stray from thy path, or suffer the fate that so many other worlds have…_

He was falling again, this time through a clear blue sky. Looking below, he saw the white-sand beach of his island home, and fast asleep on it was… Raphael gasped; the sleeping figure was himself. Once again, he braced himself for an impact, and crashed into himself.

Raphael woke with a start, gasping for air. He was still on the sand. Something hard hit the side of his head. He whirled around, searching for the culprit. A boy his own age, dressed in a black tanktop and jeans, was doubled over in laughter, holding an orange. His black-and-purple-streaked hair, along with the spiked choker, marked him as a Goth. "Did you finally decide to join the living?" he called.

Raphael rubbed his head. "That hurt, you know, Domovoi!"

Domovoi walked over and helped his friend up. "Well, you'd better be thankful it was me who woke you up, rather than Kiana; _she_ wanted to toss you off the dock! Though I admit, it would've been hilarious!" he ruffled up Raphael's red hair, who smoothed it down in exasperation; that was the one thing he couldn't stand.

A giggle behind them alerted the two boys to another presence. A girl around the same age as the other two was silently laughing. Her long, sun-bleached blonde hair, tanned skin, and brightly-colored clothes told that she loved island life, and was a dedicated beach bum. "It certainly would have…"

"Quiet, you; you're just as lazy as he is!" Domovoi looked at her sternly, but all three of them instantly burst out laughing.

"So Raphael, did you have that dream again?" Kiana asked.

Raphael sighed. "Nope, different this time."

"Oh, I get it, you were wearing a _blue_ dress this time around!" Domovoi teased, eliciting another fit of laughter.

"C'mon you two, we really should get to work on the raft!" Kiana said.

"Right!" Raphael turned to Domovoi. "Race you there!"

The other boy grinned. "You're on!"

Ish it good? REVIEW! Also, if, in your review, you tell me who the four girls were, and what anime they came from, I'll give you a cookie! (No idea how I'd send it to you, but…)

NEXT CHAPTER:

This Cruel Destiny

Raphael's existence on the island is virtually carefree, but in another world, somebody important turns up missing…

I need help! Who should I crown 'King of Anime?'


	2. This Cruel Destiny

Another Heart

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Yu-Gi-Oh, Chrono Cross, Threads of Fate, or Final Fantasy for that matter. Don't sue. However, Raphael, Domovoi, and Kiana are mine. You hear me? MINE! MY OWN! MY PRECIOUS! HAHAHA! ow 

Raphael: high-fives Domovoi Nice shot!

Domovoi: Haha. Okay, who is this Sora? Or Riku, or Kairi, for that matter? These people do not exist, I tell you! They don't appear in this fic!

CHAPTER 2: This Cruel Destiny

Yugi Mouto walked down the hall to the Pharaoh's practice room. Atemu had been moody and very quiet ever since the whole Dartz escapade, and had practically lived in the Duel Chamber since. It fell on his Hikari, young Yugi, to bring him any mail, food, or other such important things, as he was the only one Atemu would even allow to enter while he was in there.

This particular day, Yugi was delivering a letter, an invitation to yet another tournament, and Yugi rather hoped his Yami would come out of the room. When he reached the Duel Chamber, he swiped his ID card through the decoder. The lock flashed green, and the door slid open. Yugi shook his head in exasperation; all this Kaiba Corp security was hardly necessary.

The first thing Yugi noticed about the room was that it was completely empty, save a lone figure that was examining Kaiba's newest 'Duel Robot,' programmed with twenty different decks. The figure turned around upon hearing Yugi enter, and quickly strolled over. "Good morning, Yugi," Malik called.

"'Morning, Malik," Yugi said sleepily. "Malik, have you seen Atemu lately? He's usually here in the morning…"

The silver-haired Egyptian looked thoughtful. "Come to think of it, I haven't. He's probably just sleeping in, or having a late breakfast or something. Speaking of which, I better go down there before Joey lights the toaster on fire again," He walked out, leaving Yugi with the rather hilarious memory of the time Joey had accidentally set the toaster on fire while making a poptart, of all things. However, the invitation had to be delivered, so Yugi walked back to the Pharaoh's room, and knocked on the door.

"Yami?" he called. When no answer was forthcoming, he pressed the button to open the door, which slid open. Atemu never left his door unlocked. By now, Yugi was extremely worried. There was nobody in the room, and the lights were off. Yugi found the light switch, and flipped it. Nobody. However, there was an envelope with the Pharaoh's untidy scrawl written across the front. It was addressed to Yugi. He carefully slit the envelope open, reading it with ever-widening eyes. "MALIK!" The diminutive duelist sped from the room, carrying the precious letter from his Yami.

Raphael paused to catch his breath. Domovoi had beaten him yet again. Oh well. Kiana applauded both of them. Sitting down on their as-of-yet unfinished raft, the three of them talked about various things. "So, Domovoi, do you remember your hometown?" Kiana asked.

All three knew that Domovoi had moved to the Destiny Islands when he was a young boy. Domovoi's face darkened. "No, I don't," he said firmly. "So Raph, do you think this crazy plan of yours to see the other worlds will work?"

Raphael waved his hand dismissively. "Of course it'll work!"

Kiana interrupted. "Once it's finished, that is. We really should get to work on putting it together! Raph, you're the only one who hasn't gotten his list of supplies yet!"

Raphael stood up. "Okay, what do we need?"

Kiana handed him a piece of paper. "Bring me two logs, some rope, and a sail, and we can finish it! Here's a list so you won't forget!"

Raphael gave her a salute, then walked off to find the supplies. The first log was easy enough to find, just hard to haul back to Kiana. As he walked around searching, a voice called out to him. "Hey, Raph!"

Serge was sitting on the edge of the dock, fishing like he always did. As he walked over, Raphael decided it was best not to mention the dream. "Morning, Serge!"

The blue-haired boy flashed him a smile. "Heard Kiana's got you doing manual labor again," he grimaced. "Ouch."

"Yeah, but it's no big deal," Raphael replied.

"Wanna spar?" Serge asked out of the blue.

Raph shook his head. "You _always_ want to spar!" Seeing the look on the other boy's face, he conceded defeat. "Alright, we'll spar. And I'm not going to let you win this time!" They moved out onto the beach.

"Yeah, right!" Serge jeered. "You'll never beat me!" He pulled out his wooden swallow, a double-sided oar-like weapon that looked cumbersome, but Serge in fact wielded it with deadly skill. Raphael pulled out his own weapon, a small wooden sword.

They rushed at each other, clashing their weapons. Serge jumped back, and rushed again, striking Raphael in the gut as he ran past. Clutching his side, he countered with a flurry of slashes with his sword, causing the other to get banged up pretty badly. While Serge was still reeling, Raphael chucked his sword at him, and Serge fell down, laughing while simultaneously rubbing his head, where a nice lump was forming. "I gotta admit, that was pretty good!" He handed Raphael's sword back. "Now I gotta start training again!"

"I'm certain it was luck," said a quiet voice behind them. Vincent was standing there, wrapped in his usual red cloak. His cold, red eyes glared down upon them.

Raphael shivered. Those eyes always gave him the creeps. "Oh, yeah?" he countered. "Prove it then!"

The red-eyed boy smiled, a rare occasion. "With pleasure," he brought out his weapon, a slingshot he'd handmade. Raphael drew his wooden sword in response. Vincent jumped back, fitting a stone to the slingshot. He fired it off, catching Raphael off guard, and it hit him in the head. Raphael shook off the pain, and charged the other. Vincent rushed out of the way. There _had_ to be some way to distract him. He blocked the next shot with his sword, and picked up a small rock.

He lobbed it at Vincent, who was lining up another shot, and it caught him right between the eyes, sending him into a dizzy spin. Raphael rushed forward, and brought his sword down on his opponent's head. Vincent's head cleared shortly after that, and he leapt up into the air, unleashing another rock at Raphael, only this time it was glowing with a red aura. Raphael quickly batted it back, and it struck Vincent in midair, knocking him to the ground. Raphael seized his chance, rushing forward and striking Vincent again, and the older boy keeled over, clutching his head.

Raphael grinned triumphantly, pulling the irritated Vincent off the ground. "I still say it was luck," he huffed, and stomped off. Once out of striking distance, he called back, "You'll never beat all three of us!"

Raphael only smiled wider; he relished a challenge, but he had to get more stuff for Kiana, lest he fall under her wrath. Picking his way farther up on the small island, he noticed another small log leaning up against the cliff face. Once again, hauling the damn thing was the real problem. That taken care of, he resumed his search. He found a cloth tarp that could serve as a sail in one of the small tree-houses, which he tucked into his backpack for later. Now for a rope.

He found one. Problem was, it was in the possession of Mint, a girl who was well-known in the islands for her fiery temper and her proficiency at magic. She was selfish and rude at first glance, but once one got to know her… they realized they were absolutely right. There was no way she'd give up anything without a fight. So, when Raphael approached her, he expected the worst.

"Hi Raphael!" she said. Raphael was painfully aware that the rope was coiled up around her arm. "Kiana got you working on that stupid raft again?" she snickered. "You know that thing's never gonna work!"

"Yeah, well, we're gonna try anyways," he returned defensively. "Speaking of which, can I borrow that rope? We need it."

Mint feigned a look of thoughtfulness. 'Um, I think not. Besides, I'm using it for my hammock! So, sorry, but go find another rope!" She turned to the 'targets' on which she practiced her magic, quickly losing interest in the conversation.

Raphael groaned; he'd known it'd come down to this. "Fine then, I'll fight you for it!"

The other redhead turned around, a look of vague amusement on her face. "Fight me? Pssshhh! You're not even worth the effort! You'll _never_ beat me!"

"That's what you think!" he retorted, but an idea struck him. "Of course, unless you're _chicken_…" Mint froze. Bingo; he'd hit her where it hurt: her pride. There was no way she'd back down now.

"Why you little…" She whipped out her Dual Halos, twin golden rings that packed more of a punch than they let on. "THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA BEAT YOU TO A BLOODY PULP! BRING IT ON!" She unleashed one of her infamous jump-kicks, which Raphael promptly dodged. She stomped the ground in frustration, and then rushed forward to strike him with her rings. She landed quite a few hits; she was a good fighter when in a rage. Raphael gave her a sharp jab to the stomach with his sword, and she jumped back. "Oh, you're gonna get it, Raph!" She held out the Haloes, which started spinning rapidly in midair, a bright light shining in the center. Raphael paled; she was using magic to crush him now. She loosed a ball of light at him, and luckily he dodged it. Mint, however, only smiled. Raphael was suddenly hit from behind with the same ball of light, knocking him to the ground. _I've got to end this fast, or she'll tear me apart!_ She prepared another spell, and released it. This time, he rushed forward, dodging it again, and jumped behind Mint, pinioning her arms to her sides. "What the hell are you…" her face paled as she realized what he was up to. The ball hit her full in the face, and she got knocked down to the ground. She stood up shakily again, but Raphael rapped her sharply on the head, and she swooned, falling over in a dead faint.

Raphael resisted doing a victory dance, but instead picked up the rope to take it back to Kiana. Mint would just have to find something else to make her hammock with.

His prize in hand, he ran back down the beach to where the raft was tied up. Kiana was there, but oddly enough, Domovoi was not. Raphael decided to voice his questions about his friend's whereabouts.

"Domovoi? I think he went out to that little islet with the paopu tree; he's been spending a lot of time there lately…" she said absently. "Anyways, do you have the other items?" Raphael laid his booty at her feet. "Great! Now we can finish this darn thing! Thanks Raphael!" She gave him a quick hug, causing him to flush a deep shade of red. "Here's your reward! Use it when you get tired or hurt!" She handed him a small bottle with a dark blue liquid in it. "It's called a Hi-Potion! It's made from juice from one of the plants on the island and seawater, and it heals you!"

Raphael put it in his backpack for later. "Um… thanks, Kiana. I've gotta go ask Domovoi something. See ya!" he walked off.

As Kiana said, Domovoi was sitting on a branch of his favorite tree, staring out towards the horizon.

Raphael sat down next to him, and neither spoke for a time. Then, Domovoi suddenly asked, "You know, suppose we never come back, if this raft idea works?"

The question took Raphael completely by surprise; he'd never thought of that before. "What do you mean? Of course we can come back! We're going to see ALL the worlds out there, and then we're gonna tell everyone here about them!"

"Yeah…" Domovoi still didn't look too convinced. Then, he pulled a yellow star-shaped fruit from the tree they were sitting in. "Raph… Do you believe the legend? How if you share one of these paopu fruits with someone, then you are bound together by fate for all eternity?"

"I… guess," came the reply. "Why?"

"We should split it. The three of us," he said, still not taking his eyes off the fruit.

"Why?"

"Because, silly," Domovoi looked up and smiled. "I wanna make sure we're friends forever, no matter what!"

"We don't need a paopu fruit for that!" Raphael scoffed. "Whether you like it or not Dom, you're stuck with Kiana and me for life!"

Domovoi's smile grew wider. "You're right, Raph. Friends forever, and the heck with destiny!" He looked down at the paopu fruit one last time, then chucked it as hard as he could out into the ocean. He hopped down, and Raphael followed his lead. Then the two friends headed out for home.

Interesting, no? No doubt you already know what happened to poor Yami if you're at all familiar with the game, but here's some clarification on characters:

Yami/Pharaoh Atemu: Same person. They're both the 'Pharaoh' we know and love, and he also goes by Yami Yugi or just Yami.

Malik Ishtar: The main villain from the Yu-Gi-Oh!'s second season. I know the Millennium Rod is technically Yugi's now, but for the purposes of this fic, Malik holds it now. His non-psycho form is often referred to as Malik as opposed to Marik, meaning the dark side. Otherwise, they're Marik Ishtar and Yami Marik, but I use Malik and Marik for simplicity. Also, for the record, Marik will NOT make an appearance in this fic. Neither will Dartz.

Joey Wheeler: Otherwise known as Katsuya Jounouchi. Yugi's less-than-bright best friend. He's rarely seen without either Yugi or his other friend Tristan Taylor. (Hiroto Honda) He's well known for being kind of a dunce. (No offense, Joey fans!)

Yugi Mouto: Main character of YGO. For the purposes of this fic, Atemu and Yami have separate bodies, and Atemu alone bears the Millennium Puzzle, not Yugi. Yugi still has the Ring and necklace, which were received from Marik and Ishizu (sometimes called Isis) Ishtar respectively. (Marik got it from Yami Bakura)

Serge: The main character from a Squaresoft game called Chrono Cross. For my purposes, he's now around thirteen as opposed to seventeen. As far as I know, he doesn't have a last name…

Mint: Again, no last name. She's one of the leading characters from another Square game called Threads of Fate. She's also around twelve in here, and she's got a baaaaaaad temper!

Vincent Valentine: Okay, you can't call yourself an RPG fan if you don't know who this guy is. He's a character from Final Fantasy VII, and his main weapon was a gun. Now, he's about fourteen, and I've swapped out his gun for a slingshot. Evil, I know, but most fourteen-year-olds do NOT have guns.

Anywho, NEXT CHAPTER: The Shadow Falls

Atemu's disappearance causes mass chaos in the YGO realm, and the island is attacked! R/R!


	3. The Shadow Falls

Another Heart

DISCLAIMER: Once again, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Cross, Threads of Fate, Final Fantasy, or Yu-Gi-Oh, for that matter. Do NOT sue me. However, also once again, Raphael, Domovoi, and Kiana ARE mine. I WILL sue if you steal them without my express permission. Thank you.

CHAPTER 3: The Shadow Falls

(Destiny Islands Part II)

Yugi ran as fast as his legs could carry him to find Malik, Joey, anyone, who could help him. He flew past Joey's door, which was of course closed, as Joey always slept in. He nearly knocked Kaiba over (much to Seto's annoyance), but Kaiba hated Yami's guts, and most likely would not care. He didn't want to tell Tea; it was well-known the two were dating, and Yugi did not want to worry her about the Pharaoh. Tristan was likewise asleep; Ryou would freak and pose almost as bad a problem as Tea. There were only two people he could truly count on at the moment, and luckily one was happily situated inside the castle. Now, to find the first of his targets.

Malik was calmly walking down the hall, hoping to get some breakfast in before everybody packed in. He didn't like being near other people much, especially not since the whole incident with the Egyptian God Cards and Marik. He still had nightmares about it, and judging by Joey, Mai, and Ryou's reactions to him, they did too. True, Marik had been banished to the Shadow Realm, but that did not erase what he'd done. The people he'd banished, Malik included, would be scarred for life, never to be the same. Hell, Mai had proven that she'd been changed by his Yami's unacceptable actions when she'd tried to use the Seal of Orichalchos to exact her revenge. She'd been turned into a monster, and it was his fault. He'd settled into a nice pit of depression, when something tackled him from behind. Malik was suddenly aware of a very flustered-looking Yugi clutching a piece of paper on top of him. Malik pushed the hyperventilating midget off him, and asked quietly, "Yugi, what's wrong? Where's the Pharaoh?"

Yugi could hardly breathe; he was nearly blue in the face from the running he'd just done, and all he could manage was, "Malik… help… Yami… letter… read…" he sank to his knees panting, and weakly held up the crumpled piece of paper. Malik recognized the handwriting almost immediately; it was definitely the Pharaoh's.

Malik read it with an ever-quieting voice. "'Yugi, if you are reading this, then my worst fears have been confirmed, and I have left this world in order to set out to correct it. Please do not let Tea know about this, as I do not wish to worry her. Don't go looking for me either. Please just remain calm, for once I have found the key, I will be able to return. Goodbye for now, Yugi. Yami'" Malik's voice quavered as he read the final sentence. "So, he's gone to fight something he doesn't want us to know about, and to find this 'key.'" He finished.

"Apparently," Yugi said quietly. He then made to move off. "Come on."

"Where do you think you're going?" Malik asked.

"To find him," Yugi retorted. Malik tried to say something, but he interrupted, "Look, what if this has something to do with the Shadow Realm? Yami might need help!"

Malik raised his hands in defeat. "Okay," he agreed. "But we can't let anybody know about this, got it? _Especially_ not Tea."

"Can't let me know what, guys?" Yugi and Malik froze. Of course, Tea was standing right behind them.

Roughly ten minutes later, Yugi, Malik, Ishizu, Rebecca Hawkins, Tea, Joey, Ryou, Mai, Tristan, and indeed, the Kaiba Brothers, were assembled in the kitchen (Joey was snoring on the table, but oh well). Even Pegasus had managed to hack Kaiba's security, and the silver-haired gamer's face was on Rebecca's laptop, much to Kaiba's dismay.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YAMI'S GONE!" Everyone in the room was nearly bowled over by Tea's outraged scream. Even Joey was woken up by the outburst.

Yugi sighed. "Just read the letter," he handed the letter to her, and everyone excluding Yugi, Malik, and a very affronted Pegasus (who was incapable of moving the computer) crowded around it. Once finished, they all sat back down, considerably more quiet than before. Ishizu seemed as though suddenly centuries older, her careworn face very gaunt. Tea was hiccupping slightly, and Rebecca was rereading the letter, obviously searching for some kind of deeper meaning. Everyone else was either sitting wide-eyed in shock or talking in hushed whispers amongst themselves. Even Pegasus, who had, with Rebecca's help, read the letter by now, was massaging his temples in quiet frustration.

Finally, it was Ishizu who broke the silence. "So, the Pharaoh has gone to fight this new 'evil.' This is grave news indeed."

"What does he mean by he's 'left this world?'?" Mai asked. "I mean, he's not… Is he?" Her voice was clearly marked by confusion and fear.

"No," Everyone in the room jumped; a shockingly familiar voice had come from the doorway. All turned to see a man clothed in long beige robes and a white turban. He wore a large, golden, ankh-shaped key around his neck. Shadi walked into the room, the same graven expression that had become so familiar written all over his face. "The Pharaoh is not dead; he has simply left _this_ world. Surely, he is in another. You know of this, do you not, Yugi?"

"What are you…?" Realization dawned on the boy. "Yami had a pen-pal who lived in some place called 'Traverse Town,' but I never thought Yuna lived in another world…" Thirteen pairs of eyes widened at this revelation.

"Indeed," Shadi continued. "But first, I should shed some light on this subject, should I not?" Collective nods gathered around the room. "There is an ancient prophecy…"

"Not _another_ one o' dose!" Joey exclaimed. Mai whacked him upside the head, and everyone else rolled their eyes. It was true though; they'd all about had enough of ancient prophecies and apocalyptic villains.

Shadi continued. "It speaks of a time when, one by one, the very stars begin to go out. For every star that dims, a world dies," There were collective gasps around the room. "The beings responsible for this are known only as the Heartless; for they feed off the darkness in peoples' hearts, and they take the very souls of those they defeat. They cannot be destroyed, and all worlds will eventually be destroyed by their evil."

Everyone fell silent, save Kaiba. "So, how do we stop it? I'll be damned if I let some soulless monster destroy everything I've worked for."

"The prophecy also speaks of a 'Key' that has the power to 'lock' the 'Doors' through which the Heartless enter these worlds. It is this Key that the Pharaoh seeks, and it is that Key which we must find. The Pharaoh's contact in the other world has somewhat extensive knowledge of the prophecy, and so we must seek Lady Yuna out. Yugi, you must go to Traverse Town and find this Yuna, as she is the only one who will be able to help you find the Key."

"And how do you propose we get to Traverse Town?" Yugi asked, annoyed. "I mean, we can't exactly take the train, can we?"

"The Priest has a jet, does he not?" Shadi returned. He got completely bewildered looks for that. "Seto Kaiba…" he added, and understanding dawned on their faces. _Do they never pay attention?_ He thought bitterly.

Kaiba, however, stood up, being the only person in the room who could match Shadi in height. "Listen to me, freak; there is _no way in hell_ I'll just loan out my jet to anybody, hear me? Do you have any idea how much that thing costs?"

Pegasus's pixilated face bore a reproachful look. "But Kaiba-boy, aren't you worried about the Pharaoh?"

"As if I give a damn about that fool. He can fend for himself," Kaiba retorted hotly.

"But Kaiba-boy," Pegasus said in his usual singsong voice, "If Yami dies out there, you'll never beat him, and you'll forever be a loser to him…"

Kaiba flinched. _Ouch,_ he thought bitterly. _ Bull's-eye._

It was settled. Within an hour, everyone was assembled in the huge hangar that housed Kaiba's private jet, which, like everything else he owned, was fashioned in the shape of a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Yugi and Malik were settled comfortably in the passenger area with enough snacks and drinks to feed a small army, while Kaiba himself was strapped in to the pilot's seat in the cockpit; he absolutely refused to let Yugi and Malik run off with his precious jet. With Shadi's instruction, Mokuba had installed a navigation system and engines which would allow for cross-dimensional traveling (for the most part, this just consisted of wiring the Millennium Necklace, Ring, and Scales to input a constant flow of Shadow Energy into the engine), and everyone was ready to go. Mokuba had tried to get on board, but luckily was caught in the process by Kaiba Corp security. So now, the Kaiba Jet was ready to fly. With five minutes to launch, everyone had said their goodbyes, and were cleared from the runway. Inside, Yugi sat nervously gulping down a glass of water, while a bored Malik started moving the shade on one of the windows up and down with the Millennium Rod, and Kaiba prepped the plane for takeoff. At one of his beloved suits' command, Kaiba fired up the engines.

Said suit, named Johnson, was in Kaiba's makeshift 'control tower,' along with everybody else. He watched the jet take off, then disappear in a flash of light. As much as the elderly man didn't want to think about it, he could tell something was wrong. Being in World War Two had taught him to always obey his 'soldier sense,' because if it went off, something was wrong, and right now, it was pounding a drum solo in the back of his head. Out of habit, he did a quick head count. Wheeler, Valentine, Taylor, Gardner, Bakura, Ishtar, Turban Dude… Damn. Only seven, where there were supposed to be nine. Mr. Kaiba was _not_ going to be happy at all. _Those_ _damn kids_...

Raphael collapsed on the sand. He'd lost the drawing of straws, so today his task was to gather all the food for their journey, which would begin the next day. He would collect, Kiana would cook the food if needed, and Domovoi would pack the meat in salt to preserve it. Fish, eggs, coconuts, water, and mushrooms were all a part of his list. It also fell to him to steal some bread from his mother, to allow for adequate supplies. He sighed. Fish, water, and coconuts were no problem; this _was_ an island after all. Eggs could be found in almost any tree on the island, provided one did not mind the climbing, and then fighting off screaming seagulls. Mushrooms were another story entirely. The fungus was as rare on the island as gold.

Serge, the resident 'Master Angler' on the island, was, as usual, sitting on the dock, beloved fishing rod cast over the side. Mint sat next to him, kicking her feet in the salty water. Even Vincent appeared to be enjoying himself, as he had stripped down to swimming trunks, and had paddled out to deeper water. The bluenette looked up from his bobber as Raphael walked up. "Hey," he called. Mint just scowled.

"Hi. Listen, can you give me a hand?" Raphael asked. "Kiana wants me to collect fish for the raft, and…"

"Say no more, say no more," Serge cut him off. "The fish is yours." He showed Raphael a basket filled to bursting with wriggling fish.

"Really? You're just giving it to me for free?" Raphael asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Serge grinned deviously. "But on one condition." Alarm bells blared in Raphael's head.

Mint stood, and Vincent pulled himself up on to the dock, throwing shirt and cloak on quickly. "We've had a talk," Mint began. "and we've decided--"

"That seeing as how you beat each of us in turn--" Serge interrupted.

"We would face you with our specialty: Three-on-One battle," Vincent finished. "And thus…"

"WE CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!" The trio said in unison.

Raphael gulped slightly. Accepting the battle would most likely end with him being beaten badly. Declining would forever establish him as a 'chickenshit,' in Domovoi's words. If he won, he'd get what Kiana wanted for fish and then some. He nodded. Clearly, the pros outnumbered the cons. He'd just have to kick their butts. No biggie. "I… accept," he whispered.

All three pulled out their weapons. Serge unsheathed his swallow, Vincent loaded his slingshot, and Mint started absently spinning her rings around, an amused smile on her face. Raphael drew his little sword in response, and rushed forward without warning, hitting Mint on the head. Hard. Blinded by the sudden attack, she launched spells at random all over the place, some hitting trees or sand, or the water, and some hitting her teammates. Vincent proved difficult to hit, as he stood behind and launched rocks while Mint and Serge attempted to annihilate Raphael. Serge was also proving difficult to eliminate, due to the distractions of the other two. Finally, Mint launched a powerful spell at Raph, who dodged it. As the ball of light came around for another pass, he did a quick jump over Serge, and it caught the other boy full in the face, taking him out of the battle. Mint gasped, at a loss for her sudden foul-up. One down, two to go. Mint abandoned her magic tactics, and instead rushed forward to get in some ring strikes. She didn't hit as hard, but she definitely was faster than Serge. Vincent was launching rocks at him left and right; he'd have to take out the cloaked boy if he had a hope of winning. Problem was, Mint was so in-his-face that it was difficult to maneuver around to Vincent, and by that time, the other boy would surely realize what Raphael was doing, so that plan was out. Forfeiting was out of the question; Raphael didn't think his pride could take it. Mint leapt into the air, as did Vincent, who charged his rock with that red aura again. _That's it,_ Raphael thought. He readied himself, looking like he would try to dodge Mint's jump-kick, leaving him vulnerable to Vincent's attack. At the last moment, he whipped around and instead of deflecting the glowing stone back at Vincent, he knocked it towards Mint, where it caught her right in the middle of her jump-kick, sending her crashing to the ground. Raphael then rushed over and gave her a few extra whacks for good measure, and she fell back and dropped her rings in defeat. Now, it was plain one-on-one. He raised his sword, ready to deflect another attack, but Vincent had other plans. The older boy abandoned his slingshot, and body-slammed Raphael to the ground. Backing away, he rushed again, raising his foot as if to kick Raphael, but at the last moment, Raphael kicked his legs upward, catching Vincent in the stomach, and sending him flying over his opponent's head and into the pool of water behind them, where he came up, spluttering, wet, and not at all happy. Raphael could still feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins; the thrill of the battle always gave him a rush. For the first time since he'd first challenged them three years previously, he'd won.

It was settled; Serge, much to his dismay, handed over his beloved catch of fish, which was in turn presented to a jubilant Kiana. First item on his list was more than taken care of, so now to go find the others. He found some seagull eggs up in a tree, and filled several jugs with water from the little spring in the center of the island. With only the coconuts and mushrooms left to find, Raphael intensified the search for items. He found plenty of coconuts out on Domovoi's little islet, but they were too far up to reach, and he'd never be able to climb them. Domovoi didn't seem to have a problem however; he was simply knocking them out of the tree with his boomerang. True, it was a five-foot-long boomerang, but it certainly worked. Domovoi looked up from his bounty. "Hey Raph, did you get your food for Kiana yet?" he snickered.

"Yeah, about that," Raphael began. "Can I borrow your boomerang, or at least some coconuts? Kiana needs them…" Domovoi merely smirked.

"As much as I'd like to help," he replied. "I don't think I will," He grinned mischievously. Raphael opened his mouth to say something, but Domovoi cut him off again. "However, I might be persuaded to help, if, say…" _So melodramatic,_ Raphael thought bitterly. "I'll help if you beat me."

Raphael stood in stunned silence. He remembered all too well when Serge, Mint, and Vincent had challenged him to a three-on-one, and he had clobbered them in no time at all. Raphael wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance. Still, he'd never been one to turn down a direct challenge, and he couldn't start now. Damn his pride. He drew his sword, and Domovoi flashed him a grin, pulling the giant boomerang to a more offensive position. "Come and get me!" he shouted, and threw the weapon in a wide arc. Raphael ducked as the enormous weapon flew overhead, and Domovoi caught it as it came back around. He ran forward, swinging the great weapon like some giant sword. Raphael blocked the attack just in time, but the sheer force of it knocked the sword out of his hand. He barely dodged the next swing, and rushed to grab his weapon. He made it to the sword, but Domovoi's weapon hit him from behind, knocking him forward a couple of feet. When he looked back, Domovoi caught the boomerang again, and ran forward. Raphael ducked beneath the errant swing, and whacked the other boy in the stomach, sending him staggering back. Raphael seized the opportunity, scrambling up into the tree that Domovoi usually sat in. The other boy, now suitably recovered, chucked the boomerang at the tree-bound opponent, and rushed forward, fists raised in an attempt at a double-attack. Raphael dropped beneath the boomerang, catching the tree branch on the way down. He swung around, kicking Domovoi in the chest, who staggered back gasping, and was then struck by his own renegade boomerang. The gargantuan weapon now floating in the shallows beneath them, Domovoi was quite weaponless, but not defenseless; he raised his fists in a fighting position, seemingly ready to continue. _Damn,_ Raphael thought. _Does he _ever_ get tired?_ As if in answer to his question, Domovoi smirked slightly, then sank to one knee, clutching his chest and panting.

"Damn," he breathed. "You hit me pretty hard there, you know? Congrats. Feel free to borrow the boomerang. I need a drink," And he staggered off to the little spring for a while. After figuring out how to use the damn thing, Raphael found the boomerang was quite useful in getting those coconuts down from the tree. Soon, he had an armful, and leaned the boomerang up against the tree to bring his bounty to Kiana.

Now, one final item on the list: mushrooms. Now, where could he get mushrooms?... Of course; why hadn't he thought of it before? There were plenty of mushrooms growing in the damp soil in the little cave behind the spring. The islanders had christened it the 'Secret Place,' as the entrance was extremely difficult to find, and it was generally where one went when one wanted to be alone. Crawling through the low tunnel that led into it, Raphael noted plenty of things, from the abundance of mushrooms, to the various drawings on the walls, even to the multicolored light that flashed around the room from the small crystals embedded in the walls. However, something was there that was NOT supposed to be. Raphael gasped; standing before him was the same white-marble door from his dream! He walked up to it and pulled on the handle experimentally. As expected, it did not move an inch, but simply stood there, mocking him in all its gilded splendor. Backing away from the perplexing door, Raphael instead turned his attention to the mushrooms, loading them carefully in a burlap bag for later. Then he noticed the drawing the fungi were in front of. Two faces chalked into the stone three years ago, Raphael's and Kiana's. He'd shown her the Secret Place on her first day in the islands, and she'd come up with the idea of drawing each other. Being eleven years old, neither child had done well, but it had been something to do. On a whim, Raphael picked up a small rock and scratched a star in between the two figures; a paopu fruit. Smiling slightly at his little addition, he turned to leave… and found himself face-to-face with a very tall someone in a cloak.

"Soon the door will open," it said. "Soon, this world shall fall to our might as well… We're coming for you, Keybearer…" The mysterious figure faded into the shadows.

Raphael was beyond freaked. He ran out of the Secret Place as fast as he could, and tossed the bag of mushrooms at Kiana's feet. "Raphael, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Domovoi then walked up. "Yeah, you do look a little pale, Raph. Why don't you go cool off for a while; you can help me with the salt later," and so Raphael did as suggested, and brought some of the pineapples that grew on the island, and a coconut for Domovoi (who was allergic). His friends graciously accepted the gift, and they sat there happily enjoying the lunch while the fish sizzled over an open flame. Then, Kiana raised an interesting question.

"So, what are we going to name it?"

"Name what, Kiana?" Domovoi asked.

"The boat of course, silly!"

"I say we call her 'Excalibur,'" Raphael interjected.

Domovoi frowned. "That's an okay name, but why did you call it 'her?'"

"Because," Raphael said through gritted teeth, "If you pay attention, you'll notice that people generally refer to boats as 'her', or 'she.'"

"Whatever," Domovoi waved his hand dismissively. "So long as I'm captain, I'm fine."

"And who said you get to be captain?" Raphael asked defensively.

"I called dibs. And besides, you already named it, so it's only fair I get to be captain!"

"Yeah, but--"

"Are we going to have to settle this the old-fashioned way?" Kiana interrupted. She took the looks she got in return as a yes. "Alright. You both know what to do; start at the bridge!"

Usually, when Domovoi and Raphael had a dispute over something, no matter how trivial, they would settle it over a race. They would begin at a small bridge over a little pond, run across the island to a star-shaped tree, then run back. Unfortunately, Domovoi usually won, but Raphael had his occasional victory. The two lined up at the first bridge, Kiana standing behind them. "Hey Raph," Domovoi said casually. "Winner gets to split a paopu fruit with Kiana!"

Raphael tried to say something in return, but was cut off by a shout of "Go!" coming from Kiana, and both boys took off. They made it across the bridge neck-and-neck, but their paths diverged from there. While Domovoi ran around to get up the hill to the tree, Raphael climbed up a tower with a zip-cord at the top. After taking the cord down, Raphael jumped across the treetops and touched the little tree in the alcove, Domovoi just seconds behind him. Knowing full well that his rival was catching up, Raphael put on an extra burst of speed, and reached the bridge miles ahead of Domovoi. However, as his feet hit the bridge, the rotten wood gave and cracked, and Raphael fell through, and was only able to watch in dismay as Domovoi cleared the hole and won the race.

Raphael was livid by the time he made it back to Kiana. He was wet, sandy, and not at all happy, and it didn't help that Domovoi burst out laughing at the sight of his friend. "You know," he said in between giggles, "You shouldn't take me too seriously! I was only kidding about the whole paopu fruit thing!" This only made Raphael feel worse.

Kiana put her arm around his shoulder. "Oh, cheer up. It's just a race," She looked off to the west, where the sun was beginning to set. "It's getting late," she observed. "We should be getting home," The three friends said goodbye, and headed out for home.

That evening, Raphael was sitting in his room, waiting for his father to call him down for dinner. He gently tossed a baseball around, catching it each time it came back down. Yes, boredom was an evil thing. For some reason, he was getting a strange sense of dread down in his gut, and oddly enough, dark clouds were gathering in the night sky. Then, a bright flash lit up the room, followed by a deep roll of thunder. Raphael gasped. That could only mean one thing; a storm was coming. He ran to the window, and seeing the trees whipping around in the wind, his first thoughts went to the raft. Pulling a raincoat over his head, he ran out of the house, and got in his boat.

When he got to the main island, he noted that both Kiana's and Domovoi's boats were moored at the dock. Pulling up beside them he hopped out onto the dock, expecting it to be slippery from the rain, when he realized that not a single drop was hitting the island. He looked up, and there wasn't even one cloud over his head, but there was certainly some king of shroud there, blocking out the moon and stars. Something hit him from behind, and he was knocked over. Turning around, he realized exactly what he was looking at. _No way in hell…_ He was staring at one of the little imp creatures from his dream. It leapt up to attack him, but he drew his wooden sword and knocked it away. It stood back up, unfazed. Raphael dimly realized that his sword would do absolutely nothing to these creatures. So he raced across the sands, dodging the little monsters as they popped up. He made his way out to Domovoi's islet, where Domovoi was standing alone, looking out to the turbulent sea. He turned to face Raphael, and held out his hand, a demented smile painted on his face.

"Look, Raph! The door is open! We can finally see the other worlds!" Raphael backed away slowly; he didn't like his friend's new tone at all. "Yeah, we won't ever be able to go back; I realize that now, but I don't care! I'm going to see them all! Come with me, Raphael!" He extended the hand farther, but a black circle appeared at his feet, shadowy tentacles wrapping around his ankles. Time seemed to stand still for that infinitesimal moment. Domovoi's hand outstretched, still smiling, the shadows pulling him down, and Raphael's helpless shock. Soon enough, Domovoi was gone, vanished without a trace, and the shadow turned its attention to Raphael. He tried to run, but its tentacles already had him pinned. Raphael knew then that it was over, but yet another familiar element from his dream apparently felt otherwise. The voice echoed inside his head, repeating a single word over and over: _Keyblade… Keyblade…_ Raphael knew then that he'd lost it, but a bright light appeared in his hand, seemingly banishing the darkness. When it faded, the shadow was certainly not attacking him anymore, but there was now a strange object in his hand. It was shaped like a giant, old-fashioned key (the kind with the big, circular barrels) with a sword handle, a little keychain in the shape of a star with a strange symbol on it. He could feel the power emanating from it, and somehow felt… _safe_ with it. He stood, gripping the hilt tightly. If it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they would get.

Armed with his new weapon, he cut through the little demons with ease, picking up the green orbs they left behind. He made his way to the center of the island, and noticed that there was now a large door covering the entrance to the secret place, as opposed to the tiny hole. Raphael grabbed its handle, surprised when it opened at his touch, and he raced inside. Kiana was standing in there alone, a look of utmost fear written on her face. The white marble door, which had previously been closed, was now wide open, and spewing shadows out onto the floor. Kiana turned to look at Raphael, and whispered, "Aren't you scared? Help me, Raphael!" She tried to run towards Raphael, but the door released a huge blast of the shadows, and she was instantly consumed, but Raphael was thrown back out the entrance, which sealed behind him. He landed hard on his back. When he looked up, he saw that he was back on the islet, with a huge figure towering over him. Raphael's face paled; this was the same monster that he'd had to beat in his dream.

He held up his new Keyblade, ready for battle, and the monster reared back, driving its fist into the ground at Raphael's feet. He used the same tactics as in his last fight, and ran up the thing's arm, striking at its head. It screamed in agony, shaking him off, and charged up several balls of dark energy, which it launched at Raphael. He dodged the balls, and threw his sword as hard as he could at the core inside the hole in the creature's body. The Keyblade lodged in the glowing orb, and the monster let loose an even louder screech as it collapsed on the sand and dissolved into a pool of darkness. Turning, he saw that the rest of the island was gone, as well as the ocean. The little islet was just floating in an endless void, and more tentacles of darkness were consuming it. Raphael panicked, rushing to grab his Keyblade from the ground, knowing it was of little use. He watched in horror as the tiny patch of land dissolved away before him, and his world went black.

Cliffhanger! Don't kill me! Please review; I want to know what you think!

Anywho, any and all anime characters mentioned are characters from Yu-Gi-Oh!. Johnson, Kaiba's employee, is just a little side character I added in for flavor. As far as I know, nobody by that name made an appearance in the show.

NEXT CHAPTER:

Crossroads

Raphael, Kaiba, Yugi, and Malik go to Traverse Town. Who will they find there? And where have Rebecca and Mokuba gotten off to? Read to find out!


	4. Crossroads

Another Heart

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Threads of Fate, Final Fantasy, Zatch Bell, or Yu-Gi-Oh!. Don't sue me. Raphael, Domovoi, and Kiana are mine, however.

CHAPTER 4: Crossroads

(Traverse Town)

Kaiba was livid. Not only had Mokuba completely disobeyed his orders to stay off the jet, and had instead stowed away in the baggage compartment, but that Hawkins girl had managed to tag along as well. Needless to say, Seto Kaiba was not a happy man. Yugi and Malik were sufficiently amused to push him even farther into a rage. He could hardly leave them in the jet, so he was forced to bring the two along. "Where are we supposed to find this 'Yuna' person, anyways? You better not be leading us on a wild goose chase, Yugi…"

Yugi frowned. "Come to think of it, I don't even know what she looks like… I guess we better ask around."

Malik piped up. "I suggest we split up; we'll be able to cover more ground that way. I trust both of you brought those radios from the jet? I doubt you can get service on your cell phones here."

"That's a good idea," Yugi replied. He turned to the two children. "Why don't you two look around? Just stay near this square, and we'll be back in a while," he flashed them a smile.

Kaiba opened his mouth to say something, but a pleading look from his brother silenced him. "Hmph. Fine. Mokuba, do NOT leave this area. We will be back shortly."

With that, the three of them turned to a map of the town. The town was divided cleanly into three districts, and they each agreed to search one. Kaiba would scour the First District (partly to be close to Mokuba), Malik would search the Second District, and Yugi would take the Third District. The trio split up, heading off to find this so-called 'Key.'

Meanwhile, Mokuba and Rebecca were met with a very interesting creature indeed. They probably would have dismissed it as a stuffed animal, had it not started yelling when Mokuba oh-so-gracefully tripped over it. Its fur was a rich cream color, and it had a rather large red nose, along with a round object of the same color attached to its head by a string or antenna of some sort. All in all, it was almost sickeningly cute. So, naturally, both kids were startled when it started screaming, "Kupo, watch where you're going, kupo!" Aside from having no idea what 'kupo' meant, they found the situation a little bit confusing. They backed away, finally turning tail to the irate little monster and running. They ran down a small side street, and Mokuba tripped on something else.

Raphael woke very quickly. Someone had not only stepped on his legs, but had crashed quite painfully onto him. His first reaction was to tell Domovoi to leave him alone, but then he remembered what had happened. He opened his eyes. Lying across him was a frightened-looking black-haired boy, and a blonde girl with glasses and a laptop slung over her back was watching rather apprehensively. He noted that he was _not _on his island, but in an alleyway in some weird city. "So, it wasn't a dream then…" he said quietly.

Mokuba didn't know what to make of this comment, so he quickly got up and asked timidly, "Are you okay, mister? Sorry about that."

Raphael stood up cautiously. "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. He was _not _fine; he had no clue where he was, or where Domovoi and Kiana were. "Kid, do you know where we are?"

"I have a name, you know!" Mokuba said indignantly. Rebecca giggled behind him. "It's Mokuba, not 'kid', and um…" he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, I don't know where we are…"  
The blonde girl sighed. "Mokuba, do you _ever_ pay attention to the others? We're in Traverse Town, remember? And by the way, my name's Rebecca," she held out her hand. Raphael did not take it.

"Well, thanks for helping me," _Yeah right,_ he thought. _As if that really helped at all. Where in the hell is Traverse Town?_ He turned around, and walked out of the alleyway. Right about then, he realized the Keyblade was missing. _Oh no, _he panicked. _What happened to it? Where'd it go?_ As if in answer to his question, it appeared with a flash of light in his hand. He wished it away, and it disappeared again. Cool. _Well, that's one problem solved…_ He looked around him. He was definitely not in the Destiny Islands anymore. He was surrounded by endless neon signs, all portraying things one wouldn't normally find in an island area. He walked over to one place that actually did not have a glowing sign above the door. The plain wooden plaque said 'Tifa's'. It looked like a promising enough place, so he walked in. The second he did, he wished he hadn't. The place was almost totally empty, except for one table near the back, where a lone, white-haired figure was sitting. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Startled, he whipped around, and was met with an extremely beautiful woman. She was wearing a white tank-top, and short, hip-hugging shorts. Her black hair reached down past her waist, and Raphael couldn't help but notice the size of her, well, you get the idea.

"I'm sorry, kid, but we're closed for the night. You're gonna have to leave," She said.

"I'm not here for drinks," Raphael replied. "I just need some help…"

The woman's eyes widened. "You just got here, didn't you?" Raphael nodded. Her face turned sympathetic. "Oh, you poor thing. Here, what do you want? Soda? Water? It's on me." She looked to him expectantly.

Taken a little by surprise, he was slow to answer. "Um, soda would be fine."

She returned with a glass. "Here, you can sit down until you're ready. My name's Tifa. I own this bar. What's yours?" She held out her hand.

Raphael took it this time. "I'm Raphael," he replied. "And… thank you for the drink."

She just smiled. "That's okay. I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help with questions, though; I'm just here for moral support. If you have questions about Traverse Town or anything else, there's someone in the accessory shop who'll help you. Ask for Lucca," She turned to the other figure in the back. "Rue, you okay back there? Need anything else?" 'Rue' just waved his hand, which was apparently a negative, because she turned back to Raphael. "Oh, and Raphael, just a word of advice; If I were you, unless you have a death wish, stay out of the Second and Third Districts. They're not safe," and she went back to the bar, and started cleaning off the filth of the day's business. Raphael finished off his soda, and thanked Tifa for it. He stepped back outside, and was promptly knocked over by a very tall someone. Said person was wearing a long white trench coat, and his brown hair reached down to his ears. He looked down at Raphael, scowling. "Watch where you're going, kid," he stormed off into Tifa's bar.

"What a grouch," Raphael said bitterly. "Now, where's the accessory shop?" Suddenly, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to find a little stuffed animal pulling on his pants. Well, at least it _looked _like a stuffed animal. It was clearly alive.

"I can help you find it, kupo! Are you looking for Lucca, kupo?" the strange little creature asked.

Raphael meant to say something along the lines of, 'Yes, thank you, can you take me to him?', but unfortunately it came out, "What on earth are you?"

The little animal chuckled slightly. "I'm a moogle, kupo! You're gonna be seeing a lot of us here, kupo. Do you need me to show you where Lucca's shop is, kupo? I can take you there, kupo!" Raphael, utterly confused by this 'kupo' business, managed only a nod. "Then follow me, kupo!" The moogle's little wings fluttered, and it lifted off the ground. Raphael followed it until it stopped in front of yet another neon sign. Once there, it called out, "Don't worry; Lucca can help you get back on track, kupo!" before flying off.

Raphael walked into the little shop. The first thing he saw was the giant robot in the corner that was putting various items up on the shelves, while doing what sounded like humming. A purple-haired girl with glasses was sitting on the counter, typing away on a laptop. She looked up at Raphael, shut her laptop, and called out to the robot. "Hey Robo, we've got a customer!" 'Robo' immediately stopped and turned to Raphael.

"Good evening, and welcome to Lucca's accessory shop," it said. "How may we help you?"

"Actually, I'm not here to shop," Raphael said quickly. _I don't even have any money…_ "I'm looking for Lucca. Can either of you tell me where he is?"

The two exchanged looks. Finally, the girl said, "I'm Lucca!"

"Oh," Raphael blushed slightly; he'd been under the impression that Lucca was a guy.

"I know, you thought I was a man, huh? Don't worry; most newcomers do. Well, now you know. I'm assuming you're new to this town?" Raphael nodded. "Well, let me know if you need to know anything. By the way, what's your name?"

"Raphael," he said. "Are there any other newcomers? I'm looking for my friends, and I can't find them anywhere! Their names are--"

Lucca's face turned sad. "Raphael, I'm sorry, but you're the only one I've seen today. I know how you feel; when I came here, I lost all my friends too. Everyone except for Robo here, that is…" She jerked her thumb at the robot, who had resumed stocking the shelves. She caught sight of Raphael's horrified face, and quickly added, "But I'm sure they made it out alright. They might have gone to other worlds; not everyone ends up here. I hope you find them," and she turned back to her laptop.

"Thank you," Raphael muttered, and his thoughts turned to Domovoi and Kiana. "I hope they're alright," he said as he walked out. He let his feet take him wherever; he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going. Before he knew it, he'd run into a big door. Without thinking, he pushed it open and walked through. Almost upon walking through the door, a group of the little monsters from the island appeared all around him. Raphael's face paled, but he drew his Keyblade and slashed through the little demons with relative ease. Once all were dissipated, he thought he'd won, and walked down a flight of stairs, when he heard a scream. He whipped around to see a man get thrown to the ground by a pack of strange little people in dark blue armor. Something glowing came out of the man's chest, and the shining object turned into one more of the armored creatures. Horrified, Raphael tried to back away, but the monsters jumped at him. They were much tougher than the small, impish demons he'd fought, but he managed to fell enough of them to run away. He ran through another large door, and into a courtyard of sorts.

Meanwhile, Malik was having a horrible time fighting off the armored creatures in the second district. Yugi had come running to him, screaming that there were demons in the Third District. As it turned out, the same demons were all over the Second District. Malik blasted one monster after another with Shadow Magic, but things were not holding out well. Yugi was next to useless, even though he'd armed himself with a metal bar taken from an empty building. They just kept coming, and Malik was tiring. For every monster he destroyed with the Millennium Rod, another came back to take its place. If they didn't get out of here soon, they were screwed.

Raphael groaned; yet another group of armored monsters surrounded him. He cut through three of them with his Keyblade, but four more appeared where they had been. Raphael fled back into the Second District and dashed down an alleyway. Unfortunately, there was no reprieve even in there. He dashed past the countless monsters that swarmed him, and fled into one of the homes. It was empty, save for a black-haired man holding a beat-up old book with a strange symbol on the cover, and a blonde-haired boy who was walking around the room, playing with some strange doll made out of popsicle sticks and a crayon box.

The black-haired boy looked up. "Hey, what's your name, kid?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Raphael took a little bit to answer. "Um… Raphael."

"You made it out here, so you must be pretty tough, right?"

"… I guess…"

"Great. My name's Kiyo, and this is Zatch," he pointed to the little boy. "You see this book?" Raphael nodded. "Well, when we came here, 99 of the pages from this book went missing. I don't know exactly where they are, but they're scattered around the worlds somewhere. If you can bring me all the pages, I'll reward you big-time. Okay?"

Raphael really didn't know what to do with this odd request. "I… uh… I'll try," he said.

Zatch walked up to him. His amber eyes shone with gratitude. "Thanks, Mister Raphael!"

Malik knew his game was up. They were surrounded, and he couldn't cast another spell if he tried. Yugi swung at one of the little imp things, and it jumped out of the way. They could have been chibi, had it not been for the fact that they were now attempting to kill him and Yugi. As the monsters closed in, Malik said a silent prayer, knowing this was the end. At the last moment, several gunshots rang through the night, and six of the monsters fell dead. The rest scattered, startled by the sudden noise. Malik and Yugi both breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to face their savior. Upon seeing who it was, both gasped.

Raphael walked out of Zatch's house. As expected, the second he entered the district, he was swarmed by several of the monsters. He cut them down, and ran as fast as he could for the First District. He made it through the big door, and slammed it shut behind him. As soon as he opened his eyes though, he nearly screamed; yet _another_ pack of those armored freaks surrounded him. He managed to kill them off and made it to the main square, where the tall guy in a trench coat was trying to defend Mokuba and Rebecca from another group of the monsters. Raphael rushed forward and killed them with a few swings of his sword. The man just glared. "I suppose I should thank you for that," he said bitterly. "I thought that Tifa woman said the First District was safe."

"So did I," Raphael admitted. "We should get inside before more of those freaks show up."

Trenchcoat-dude's face darkened. "I think it's a bit late for that."  
Raphael turned around, and was greeted by a veritable army of the monsters. He raised his sword to fight them, but one of the armored monsters jumped over him from behind and attacked the other monsters. In next to no time, they were gone, unsure of what to do against their own. Then, to all four's amazement, it shone with a bright light and transformed into Rue from the bar. "I figured you could use some help," he said. "So you're the Legendary Keyblade Master. Why, though, out of all the people out there, would it choose you?" He held his hand out. "You barely know how to use it. Now, why don't you hand it over to someone who'll be able to put it to better use?"

Raphael backed away. "You're not getting this Keyblade!"

Rue's gaze narrowed. "You don't understand. I have to do this, for your own good." He drew a large axe-like weapon with a curved blade, and rushed towards Raphael. Raphael jumped out of the way at the last moment, and tried to hit him with the Keyblade, only to see him disappear. He whipped around, looking for him, but one of the little imps popped up out of the ground and slashed him as it ran past. Then, it transformed into a floating yellow thing with a steepled hat, which launched a lightning bolt at him. Raphael was thrown to the ground, and tried to get up, but the yellow thing turned into a large purple monster with an enormous stomach, which knocked him into a wall. The purple thing transformed back into Rue, who smirked slightly, and walked forward. He said something, but Raphael couldn't make it out. Everything was going blurry. Finally, he felt the ground hit him as his world went black.

Rue frowned. "I guess I overdid it, huh?" The man in a trenchcoat scowled.

"How the hell did you do that? You're not one of those monsters, are you?" he got in front of the two kids in an effort to protect them.

"Don't worry, I'm not," Rue replied dismissively. He bent over and picked up Raphael's body.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were losing your touch, Doll-boy!" called a voice. A pretty blonde-haired girl stood across the square. She wore a forest-green sleeveless midriff shirt, and matching-colored shorts. A clawed glove that went to her shoulder was strapped to her right arm, while a thick leather one was on her left. Her long hair was put up in a ponytail in the back, and two thin braids went down past her shoulders. However, instead of pupils in her blue eyes, there were dark swirls.

"That's 'Rue,' Rikku," Rue replied bitterly. He turned to the Kaibas and Rebecca. "Well, are you coming or not? I know of a safe house we can go to," Trenchcoat-dude looked to the very frightened kids behind him, and reluctantly followed Rue.

Yugi and Malik gasped. Standing before them was a brown-haired woman, who was holding a pair of smoking guns on the monsters Malik supposed were the 'Heartless.' She had one green eye and one blue, and was wearing a white lace-up shirt with a 'J' insignia on the front, along with denim shorts. What appeared to be half of a feathery skirt flowed from her belt, and she wore heavy-duty motorcycle boots. Yugi recognized her from pictures immediately. "Yuna?" he asked timidly.

"That's correct, Yugi," she replied.

Ooooh, another cliffy! Review, please!

Anywho, character clarification:

Tifa Lockheart: Cloud's girlfriend from Final Fantasy VII. She owned a bar before joining AVALANCHE, so she owns one here. She also plays the piano. ;)

Rikku (Last name unknown): She was one of the characters from FFX. Her eyes are swirly because she's Al Behd, which is a group of people who speak a different language than the average Spiran. Just play the game; I'm sure they'll be able to explain it a whole lot better than I can.

Lucca Ashtear: A brilliant inventor from the Kingdom of Guardia. She made her debut in Chrono Trigger, though she was mentioned (and even makes a cameo, if you look hard enough) in its sequel, Chrono Cross.

R66-Y (a.k.a. Robo): Robo is actually an R-Series robot from Proto Dome in the chaotic year 2300 A.D. He also made his debut in Chrono Trigger (after Lucca fixed him, of course) and I believe had a glorious cameo in Chrono Cross, right before breaking down and 'dying' (though that may have been the giant cat robot from the beginning; it's been a while since I played through that part of the game).

Moogles: Moogles, like Chocobos and characters that bear the name 'Cid,' (as in Highwind, Fabool, and Yuna's uncle) are some of the things that show up in almost every Final Fantasy game to date. They feel the need to add the word 'kupo' to every sentence, and are generally revered by fans of Square everywhere.

Rue (last name unknown): Rue is one of the main characters from the game Threads of Fate. As a Doll of Valen, he can transform into monsters he has defeated, and as the only monsters in this game are the Heartless, he can turn into Heartless without the tedium of losing his heart. ;)

Yuna (last name unknown): Yuna is the pretty summoner from FFX. She defeated an evil monster called Sin, and freed Spira from a thousand-year curse. For my purposes, she is wearing her Gunner Dress-Sphere from Final Fantasy X-2. I may or may not incorporate the Dress-Spheres into this fic; I'm not sure at the moment.

Kiyo and Zatch: These are two characters from the anime Zatch Bell. Zatch is a Mamodo, which is I suppose the equivalent of a summon from FF in that they can use special abilities when their human partners read spells out of magic books. Forgive me if they're a tad bit OOC, as I am not as familiar with the anime as I should like.

HEARTLESS MENTIONED:

Shadows: the little imp things.

Soldiers: The armored 'freaks'

Large Body: The big purple monster that Rue transformed into

Yellow Opera: The little yellow monster Rue turned into. They're Lightning elementals.

Anywho, now that that's cleared up,

NEXT CHAPTER: Fight for the Crossroads!

Raphael, Malik, and Yuna must fight for the freedom of Traverse town!


	5. Fight for the Crossroads!

Another Heart

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Threads of Fate, Final Fantasy, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, or Yu-Gi-Oh!. Don't sue me.

CHAPTER 5: Fight for the Crossroads!

(Traverse Town part II)

Raphael woke up groggily. "Oh, my head…" He was certainly alive; the porcupine dancing around in his skull was proof enough of that. He looked over to the side, and gasped.

"Hey, sleepyhead! Glad you're awake!" Kiana said cheerfully. "You took a pretty good beating there."

"Kiana?" Raphael hardly dared to believe his eyes. "Oh, Kiana! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Kiana's face clouded. "Rue, I think you hit him a little too hard," The illusion faded, revealing a pretty girl wearing green. "I'm not Kiana, whoever that is. I'm the great and powerful Alchemist Rikku!" She struck a pose, which caused Rue to laugh at the back of the room.

"Alchemist you may be Rikku, but you forgot to mention 'conniving thief' as well!" Rikku merely frowned.

Then Raphael noticed that something was wrong. "Wait, where's the Keyblade! What'd you do with it?"

Rue walked over to the wall, where the sword was resting, and picked it up. "We had to get it away from you, or else they'd never leave you alone. The Heartless fear the Keyblade above all else, so they will hunt you until either they are stopped, or you are dead," He swung it to the side, and it disappeared. It reappeared in Raphael's hand. Rue frowned. "However, it seems that it will only work for you."

"So, does anybody really know anything about the Heartless?" Yugi asked.

"Unfortunately, nobody I know," Yuna said sadly. "There was a scholar from our world named Ansem, however. He did extensive research on the Heartless, and compiled all his findings into a report."

"So, this Ansem person made a report telling all about the Heartless?" Malik asked. Yuna nodded.

"Really? Can we see it?" Yugi's heart soared; knowing about the Heartless could really help to find Yami.

Yuna looked sad for a moment. "No, I'm sorry, you can't. You see, when we came to this world, not only were our friends scattered as well, but the pages of Ansem's report were scattered as well. So you see, we have no clue where it is."

"So, these 'Heartless' are hunting me?" Raphael asked quietly.

Rue frowned. "It would appear so. You'd better hold on to that thing. If they take your heart, then we're all screwed, unless another Keybearer is chosen. So, you'd better try and survive," He looked cautiously out the window for a moment. "There's more Heartless out there. We'd better get moving; they won't be held off for long."

"Wait; there are _more _of those things out there?" Kaiba scowled. "How the hell are we supposed to survive if we can't keep them out?" He looked back to the two children behind him, whose faces were painted white with fear.

"Rue and I will fend 'em off while you guys escape," Rikku replied "Tifa and Lucca are already fighting out there. If you can make it to the Accessory Shop, Robo can hold the door.

"Are you ready, Keybearer?" Rue asked. Raphael never got to answer, because a Soldier Heartless crashed through the window, raising its claws. All three warriors in the room tried to converge on it at once, but the room's constraints prevented them from hitting it effectively. Instead, Rue transformed into another Soldier Heartless, and used the demon's moment of confusion to throw it violently back out the window, and then jumped after it. Raphael, Rikku, Kaiba, Mokuba, and Rebecca rushed out the door after him, weapons drawn. Kaiba and his charges made for the Accessory Shop, while Rue and Rikku joined Tifa, who was punching and kicking the Heartless away, while Lucca, her face screwed up in concentration, blasted away with a gun, occasionally striking those who got too close with a large hammer. "Raphael! Find their leader, and they'll back off!" Rue screamed as he cut down another Soldier. Lucca ran over, and handed him a package.

"These are from Ami and Yumi from the item shop," she explained. "There's a bunch of potions inside; I think you'll find them useful," Raphael nodded, and rushed into the Second District. As expected, there were scores of Heartless crawling all over, all of whose attention were focused completely on Raphael. In an instant, the spell was broken, and they all leaped forward at once. Raphael cut his way through one swarm after another, quickly making his way through. There seemed to be no end to them; he was about to give up, when he heard a yell coming from the Third District. Cursing under his breath, he ran to the door, and burst through.

Yugi, Malik, and Yuna had been forced to retreat into the Third District, as the Heartless had swarmed the First. Yuna's face was set, a gray sadness dominating her features as she blasted one army of Shadows after another. Malik was busy casting his shadow magic, and Yugi was making himself useful by clubbing any Heartless that made it past his comrades, which were thankfully few. Just when it seemed they were doomed, the monsters retreated, leaving a very bewildered trio in their absence. The group relaxed thankful for the reprieve. However, at that moment, a small army of Soldier Heartless appeared and kicked Yugi over the railing. Malik, distracted by his friend's plight, looked back to check that he was okay, and was knocked over himself. Yuna dodged the attack, blasted the offending Heartless, and then jumped over after her allies.

Yugi and Malik had landed in a very confused pile on top of a red-haired boy clutching a… _Could it be? The Keyblade!_ Indeed, Raphael was running from the Heartless in the Second District, when the duo had unexpectedly fallen on him from out of the sky. Once the weight was gone from his now-aching back, he jumped up and instinctively raised his Keyblade, but found his assailants were not Heartless, but humans. "What are you people doing back here? You need to get to the Accessory Shop where it's safe!" Raphael cried.

"I think we'll be fine," Yuna countered, flashing her guns.

"That's the key Yami was talking about!" Yugi said, pointing at the Keyblade in Raphael's hand.

"Look, I hate to break things up, but we have company…" Malik pointed to the balcony from which they'd come. It was true; the Soldier Heartless had jumped over the balcony and were now surrounding the four. Several more appeared, and soon all four of them were surrounded.

"Do you know how to use that?" Yuna said, gesturing at the Keyblade. Raphael nodded, and resumed his fighting stance. "Yugi, get yourself back to the First District. This is going to get dangerous really soon, and the Pharaoh would kill me if anything happened to you," she flashed the boy a smile. "Just run, and beat the snot out of anything that stands in your way," She blasted the two Soldiers who moved to block Yugi's escape, and nodded once he was out of sight, then trained her guns on the remaining Heartless. "Come on, you soulless monsters," she whispered, then rushed forward, guns blazing. All the soldiers seemed to laugh at them with their cold yellow eyes, though they did not make a sound other than the clanking of their armor as they moved.

Raphael backed up slowly. "I don't like this…" he whispered. "They're not attacking. Why aren't they attacking?" As if on cue, a huge stone wall raised out of the ground in a circle around the plaza, blocking every escape route. "I knew it," he muttered. At that moment, every Heartless around the square jumped off their perches and rushed to attack the trio. Yuna managed to take out several with her guns while Raphael rushed to attack them head-on, and Malik sent his spells after them, clubbing any stragglers with the Millennium Rod as they passed him. Within minutes, the Heartless gave up and retreated. However, the walls did not.

"Why didn't the walls come down?" Malik wondered aloud. A loud crashing noise behind them alerted the three to something else in the plaza. As they turned, they saw what appeared to be a large set of purple armor lying in a heap. Before their eyes, the armor rose up into the air and reassembled into a large armored monster with steel-clawed hands, a metal helmet with a visor covering its face, and a large, red, distorted heart painted across its chest.

"My guess," Raphael said, his face as pale as the moon above, "Would be because of that."

"And _that_," Yuna added, "is what you call trouble; that's a Guard Armor. I've fought them before, and they're pretty tough; you have to take them apart piece by piece…"

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem," Raphael said nervously. He drew his Keyblade nonetheless, and rushed the Guard Armor. He managed to get in a few good strikes on its left arm, before it went into a spinning attack, knocking him back. Yuna redrew her pistols, and fired away at it, keeping its attention diverted from the teenager that was hacking away at its arm. Malik sent a shockwave of shadow magic after it, and the left arm exploded, showering the ground with the little green recovery balls, of which everyone got a share of before continuing. Raphael moved to continue his plan of attack with the right arm, but sensing what he was doing, the Guard Armor separated, its enormous booted legs slamming into the ground, hurting him pretty badly. He took out one of the bluish potions, and downed its contents in one gulp, instantly feeling the effects. He ran circles around the slow right leg, striking it as hard and as fast as he could, and in no time, it too exploded, littering the ground with recovery balls. Before he could move in and attack the other leg, it kicked him viciously in the chest, sending him flying. Raphael hear more than one rib crack, and knew the battle couldn't go on much longer like this. Then, he felt something in his pocket, something he'd almost forgotten; _Kiana's Hi-Potion_… She'd said it was more powerful than the average potion, so he drained the thick blue liquid, tossing the bottle aside. Almost instantly, he felt his ribs heal, and the pressure on his lungs halted immediately. _Thanks, Kiana…_ he thought, then jumped up and rushed the left leg, and Yuna came to help him, leaving Malik to fend off the huge body, the right arm now gone. She quickly assumed a fighting stance, and slammed her foot into the ground, yelling, "Trigger Happy!" At her command, a circle of light appeared at her feet, and a rapid-fire stream of bullets spewed from the barrels of her guns. Once her attack was done, Raphael rushed in and struck the final blow, obliterating the other leg. Nodding to one another, they ran back to help Malik, who was nursing an ugly-looking gash on his arm. Raphael tossed him a couple of potions, which he took gratefully. Soon enough, the gash on his arm was reduced to a mere papercut, and he rejoined the fight. Raphael and Yuna were both doing well against the body, despite its numerous attempts to crush them beneath its weight. He channeled as much energy as he could muster into another spell and launched it at the Heartless. It was knocked back, thrown off by the impact, and Raphael rushed it, striking it with the Keyblade, and Yuna gave another cry of 'Trigger Happy!', firing off a final volley of bullets against the Guard Armor. With one final slash from Raphael, the body exploded, and the helmet landed on the ground, dissipating into one of the bright, heart-shaped objects from before, which floated up into the sky and out of sight. The Guard Armor gone, the stone walls disappeared, and the Third District was once again quiet.

Raphael sank to his knees, panting heavily. "That wasn't so bad," he wheezed. Yuna merely smiled, and holstered her guns, a bit out of breath herself.

"Just wait; in a week or two, you'll look back on this and think how easy it was compared to your current fights," she sat down on a ledge. "I think they'll leave the First District alone for now."

"We need to get moving," Malik said. "We should make sure Yugi and the others made it out alright." He looked to Raphael. "Come to think of it, I don't think we've even been introduced. I'm Malik Ishtar," he held out his hand.

"Yuna Hikari," Yuna held out her own.

"Raphael Black, or just call me Raph, if you want," Raphael shook both hands in turn. He turned to Malik. "Wait, are you with that grouchy guy in the trenchcoat? 'Cause if you are, I pity you."

Malik chuckled slightly. "Unfortunately, yes, Kaiba's with us. But, nobody else can pilot the jet, so we're stuck with him," He gestured towards the exit to the Second District. "Now, can we go?"

Once back in the First District, the three of them were confronted by a disgruntled Kaiba, with a very roughed-up-looking Yugi in tow. "Had to save this brat from a bunch of those Heartless," he grumbled. "You'd take care to keep a closer eye on him, or else the Pharaoh will have your head."

"Pharaoh?" Raphael wondered aloud. "What is this, Egypt or something?"

"No," Malik said quickly. "We're looking for someone who happens to be the spirit of a five-thousand year old pharaoh, who was incidentally looking for you. So, we found you, so we just need to visit the other worlds to find him."

"Ooookay… Hey, I'm looking for my friends too!" Raphael exclaimed. "Can I come with you? Please?"

"Were you not listening, brat?" Kaiba sneered. "The Pharaoh came after you, so you'd be coming with us whether you liked it or not."

Yuna shot him a look, but before she could say anything, they were greeted by a good-sized group. Rue, Rikku, Lucca, Robo from the Accessory Shop, and Tifa from the bar, were all assembled before them. "Is it true you're leaving, Yunie?" Rikku asked timidly.

Yuna returned a sad smile. "Yes, I'm afraid I am. The Pharaoh asked me to stay with the Keybearer if I ever came into contact with him, and I gave him my word."

"Well, good luck!" the blonde returned with a happy smile. "And here's a gift from all of us!" She produced a bottle filled with a violently purple liquid. "It's a Mega-Potion. It works like a regular Potion, only it'll work on all of you! Oh, and Rue has something for you!" She looked to the white-haired changeling expectantly.

He produced a bottle of bright red liquid. Catching Raphael's inquisitive look, he replied, "No, it's not blood. It's an Elixir. It'll both heal you, and restore some magic energy. I daresay you'll find use for it. See you, Raphael," He turned away and headed for the Second District, and Rikku skipped off happily after him.

Lucca stepped forward next. "This one's for you and Malik, Raph," she handed them each a scroll. "Took me forever to dig it out of the back, but you guys need it more than I do. Just read it," she said, smiling.

Raphael and Malik both slit open their scrolls, and read in unison: "If you've got a chill, just call me by name; with a snap of your fingers, you'll conjure up flames," At their words, a flame appeared on the ground before each of them, before fizzling out and disappearing.

"It's Fire Magic," Lucca explained. There are six elements of Magic: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Wind, Light, and Shadow. I think there's Time too, but I could be wrong. Look for scrolls like those all over; you'll learn new spells from them. Make sure you stop by the Accessory Shop if you're in need of anything. Oh, and Ami and Yumi from the Item Shop told me to tell you that they'll give you a special discount if you shop at their place," She shook her head, and walked off muttering about 'shameless self-promotion', giant robot in tow.

Finally, only Tifa was left. She hugged him, and said, "Sorry I don't have anything special for you, but I want to thank you for helping out, Raphael. I hope you find your friends. Anytime you want a drink, provided it's non-alcoholic, it's on the house," she ruffled his hair affectionately, and walked off.

"Now, let's get out of here!" Mokuba cried, and ran for the door to the platform where Kaiba's jet was docked.

"Now wait just one moment!" Yuna said sternly. Mokuba obliged. "Before we leave, I want to lay down some ground rules!" Everyone present rolled their eyes. "I want this journey to be filled with laughter, not tears! That ship runs on happy faces, so no frowning, got it?" Everyone else present laughed, and Kaiba rolled his eyes again.

"Well, if the ship crashes, we all know who to blame, right?" Raphael said jokingly, jerking his thumb at Kaiba, who scowled even further, much to the amusement of the others. And with that, the seven of them walked left Traverse Town for Worlds Beyond.

Unbeknownst to our heroes, yet another group was spying on them from afar.

"So, this is the boy who supposedly has the power to stop us," Said a dark-haired man with golden, snakelike eyes.

"Indeed," said another man in a large white fur cloak. A mask obscured his face. "We'll have to take care of him, or else our Heartless may not be able to complete their mission…"

"Oh, shut up and quit being so damned paranoid, Naraku," Muttered a third man whose black hair was spiked up. "He's only one lousy kid. What can he do?"

"You'd be surprised what a 'lousy kid' can do," countered a tall, gaunt man in black. His blonde hair was tied up in the back, and the fangs protruding over his bottom lip suggested he was a vampire. "Especially when said brat is prophesized to be the only one who can defeat you,"

Cold laughter rang out from yet another member of the group. His blonde hair was spiked up in the front, and his icy blue eyes could pierces as well as his namesake, Knives. "You'd be the only one to let that happen, eh, Myotismon? You have a point, though; I say we take him out."

A sixth member smirked coldly, and began stroking a large bird absently. "Well, however we deal with him, let's make it nice and painful," He patted a katana resting at his hip.

"Patience," a final member, who was shrouded in darkness hissed. "We will eliminate the boy and his friends soon enough. However, we must concentrate on our other plan first. I will trust each of you to find the Keyholes before he does; if he does find them, I will not stop the Heartless from attacking you. Now go," At once, the other six bowed, and faded one by one into darkness. "Yet another troublesome child to eliminate. Oh yes, Raphael, your journey will indeed be a short one…"

Well, whatcha think? Ish it good? Only your reviews will let me know!

Character clarification:

Yumi: The blue-haired gothic guitarist from the show 'Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.' True, the show may not be true anime, but it is very Japanese in its style. Yumi is the lazier and more agressive of the two, and she is always seen playing guitar.

Ami: Yumi's pink-haired counterpart. She's easily the nicer and more obsessive of the two; she insists on having everything neat, and actually likes cleaning. She's usually seen on drums, but appears to have taken up bass every now and then.

Orochimaru: The first villain mentioned. He comes from the anime Naruto.

Naraku: The Hanyou villain from InuYasha.

Vegita (also spelled Vegeta): The third villain mentioned. A semi-villain from Dragon Ball Z. His main goal is to get rid of his rival, who you probably already know of.

Myotismon (Vamdemon in Japanese): The Ultimate (Perfect) Vampire Digimon, and if you can't tell what series he comes from, you need help.

Knives: The fifth villain and main villain from Trigun.

Vicious: The villain with the big bird. He hails from the awesome anime Cowboy Bebop. He wields a samurai sword as his weapon.

I will not reveal the final villain as of yet. ;P

Yes, six animes have been chosen to feature in this fic. In truth, the seventh villain was not from an anime, but I wanted to add it in, so nyah. Here are the world translations for now:

Wonderland???

Olympus Coliseum- Kai Arena

Deep Jungle- Konoha Woods

Agrabah- Planet Gunsmoke

Monstro- Digital World

Deep Dive (was that the Ariel world?)- Sengoku Jidai

Neverland???

Halloweentown- Alba City

Hundred Acre Wood: Maybe VGCats?

Hollow Bastion will remain.

New Heartless:

Guard Armor: A tough Heartless with multiple parts. This is the original boss from the game.

NEXT CHAPTER: As of yet unnamed.

It will be the equivalent of the Wonderland World in the game, but I'm toying with what anime to use. Right now, I'm toying with One Piece, Pokémon, or perhaps Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm also trying to figure out stuff for Neverland, as you can see. Let me know what you think, because I won't update until either somebody tells me what they want, or I figure it out!


	6. A True Hero or Not

**Another Heart**

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Ball Z, or Yu-Gi-Oh!. Any characters you may recognize aside from my three are not mine.

CHAPTER 6: A Real Hero… Or Not

Raphael gasped as he boarded the Kaiba Jet. He'd been on planes before, but none this luxurious! There was a _DVD player_, for Pete's sake! At the back of the cabin was a refrigerator stocked heavily with sodas, snacks, and other goodies. "Somebody pinch me; I think I'm dreaming," he said quietly.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and winced under the tight grip. He turned around to find Kaiba glaring down at him. "Help yourself to drinks, but _don't touch anything_!" He stormed off into the cockpit, and shut the door behind him.

'What a grouch!" Raphael flung himself down into a chair, strapping himself in. He gazed out the window as the engines whirred to life, and

Traverse Town faded into the distance. Raphael gasped in wonder, looking out at all the stars and other objects in the distance. "Wow…" he whispered. He felt another hand on his shoulder, softer than the first. Yuna sat down beside him, and smiled.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Raphael nodded. "That was my reaction, when we first came from our home world. It just goes to show you," she brought her face closer to the window. "even in the darkest times, there's always hope…" She smiled sadly again. "We have to be strong for those we love, even if they are not with us…"

Raphael shot her a bewildered look, but she backed away, sitting back down. He looked to Malik, searching for an answer, but the silver-haired man just shrugged, returning to his book. Raphael looked over at Rebecca, who was typing frantically on her computer. He sat down next to her. "Whatcha doin'?"

She looked up at him, as though she'd just noticed he was there. "I'm keeping a journal of what happens," she explained. "This is something I want to keep for later…" She turned her attention back to the screen, making it clear the conversation was over.

Kaiba's voice crackled over the intercom. "We're landing in twenty minutes people, so you might want to strap in," and then silence.

"Hm," Yugi observed. "That was kinda fas-" the jet lurched to the side, sending everything that wasn't nailed down flying. Raphael hit his head on the wall, Yuna fell flat on her butt, swearing, and Yugi was soon dripping with the soda he'd just been drinking. Being the only people with enough sense to strap themselves in, Rebecca and Malik were just fine.

"What the f-" the ship lurched again, cutting Raphael off. Yuna shot him a stern look, but rushed to the cockpit. Raphael looked up, and saw the 'Fasten Seatbelt' light flicker on. "Oh sure, _now_ he turns it on!"

The PA crackled to life again, this time bearing Mokuba's voice, with the sounds of Yuna and Kaiba screaming obscenities at each other clearly audible. "We're being attacked by Heartless ships; just strap in, and um… crap!" The remaining passengers barely had time to make it into seats before Kaiba performed a barrel roll. As the PA was still on, so Yuna's shriek was easily heard.

"Don't you have any _weapons_ on this hunk of tin!"

Then, Kaiba's venomous retort: "What the hell do you think this is, the Air Force! This is a pleasure craft, not an effing Tomcat!"

The plane tilted viciously to the side again, righted itself, and lurched forward, engines audibly grinding as the jet sped up.

Kaiba weaved in and out of the Heartless ships, muttering a steady string of curses under his breath. Within minutes, the world faded into view ahead of them; by pushing the Kaiba Corp Jet faster, he'd reached the next world much faster than expected. It took him less than a minute to touch down, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Yuna, too, visibly relaxed at the reprieve. She then left him to his frantic examining of the jet's onboard diagnostics, which were far from reassuring.

Raphael opened the door of the cabin, and the steps descended from the opening. Looking around, he noticed other ships, all of varying design. They had landed in front of two huge gates, decorated with banners written both in English, and languages Raphael couldn't begin to comprehend. There were also many people milling about, some human enough, while others… Raphael looked around to find a green-skinned man with antennae glaring at him, as if to say, 'What are **you** looking at?' Raphael quickly pulled his head back in.

"Well?" Malik said expectantly.

Yuna stared out the window. "It looks like there's some kind of festival or something going on; I can see fireworks over there," she read one of the banners. "'Fight for the cup,' huh? Judging from that, I'd say it looks more like a tournament," she frowned. "It doesn't look like much of a threat is here. We should get going,"

Kaiba chose that moment to storm out of the cockpit, throwing his headset to the floor. "Everything's either overheated, or has holes punched in it! Whether we like it or not, we're stuck here until I can get some repairs done," he walked over to the fridge, pulling a soda out and huffing back to the cockpit, fuming silently.

"Or not," Yugi said. He looked out the window as well. "Hey, that looks like fun! Maybe we should check it out!"

"Yeah, we're gonna be here for a while anyways, so we should at least enjoy ourselves!" Mokuba chimed in.

"Why not?" Raphael added, and led the way down the ramp. Thankfully, the intimidating green man was gone by now, so the six of them walked through the gates.

**WORLD: KAI ARENA**

Upon entering, Raphael was promptly knocked over by someone. When he looked to see who it was, he immediately wished he hadn't. A very short, pudgy, and _blue_ man was lying on his back in front of him. With visible effort, the man righted himself, and brushed the dirt off his black robes. "Watch where you're going next time, little kid," the man grumbled and turned to leave.

Raphael chose to ignore the 'little kid' comment, but grabbed the little man by the shoulder, just now noticing the antennae poking out of his head. The first question that came to mind was 'What on earth are you?', but Raphael chose a more polite one. "What's all this stuff about, anyways?"

The man puffed his chest importantly. "This," he explained, "Is a tournament organized by me to find the strongest warrior in the galaxy!" he adjusted his sunglasses, and continued. "The preliminaries are starting in an hour! I advise you to get a seat before the doors close, because we can't let anyone through after that! Run along now! Shoo!" he made a dismissive motion with his hand, but Raphael did not move. _The strongest warrior, huh?_

"Hey mister…"

"That's Kai to you, kid! King Kai!" The man huffed indignantly.

"Right. So Mister Kai, I'm guessing there's a big prize for whoever wins this tournament?"

"Of course! Not only the title, but riches beyond your wildest dreams!" Kai beamed.

Raphael looked thoughtful for a moment. "It's not too late to sign up, is it?"

Kai shook his head, but the full meaning of the statement hit him a second later. Then he collapsed, laughing hysterically. Raphael groaned.

Finally, Kai stood up, wiping tears from his eyes. "Oh dear me, I haven't heard a joke as good as that in _ages!_" He took one look at Raphael's face, and all humor vanished from his face. "Oh, you're really serious? Well, I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to enter."

This time, it was Yuna's turn to get angry. "Well, why not! If he wants to enter, then let him!"

Kai adjusted his glasses, and said in an important tone, "This tournament will be filled with unimaginable dangers, and frankly, I don't think a little snot-nosed kid can make the cut. You two, on the other hand…" He looked over Malik and Yuna. "You two can enter, if you want, but little kiddies should stay away!" He took off after that, disappearing behind a desk to the side of the room.

"Oh, well," Malik sighed. "We can still watch, right? I mean, that old man can't stop us from seeing the tournament…"

"And that 'old man' can't stop you from entering, either," said a voice.

Everyone turned to see a tall man wearing a blue jumpsuit. White gloves, armor and boots adorned his hands, chest, and feet, and his black hair was spiked up, adding a good foot to his already impressive height. "And who are you?" Raphael asked.

The man smirked. "Just a friend, who knows talent when he sees it."

"And what do you mean by that?" Raphael said suspiciously.

The man held out an official-looking piece of paper. "You've got talent, kid; any fool can see that! This," he gestured towards the slip of paper, "is a pass to get into the tournament, no questions asked. As long as you have this, there's nothing that old fool Kai can do to stop you!"

The redhead took it cautiously. "What's the catch?"

The man just smiled and patted him on the head in a fatherly manner. "No catch, I just want to see ya win the tournament, kid! And, I want to see that old coot eat his own words, but that's a small priority. No go out there and win!" He patted Raphael on the shoulder, and walked off, whistling to himself. "And by the way," he called over his shoulder, "call me Vegita!"

"That was almost _too_ easy," Vegita muttered to himself once the kid was out of earshot. "He fell for it so quickly, it's not even funny! Taking the brat out will be easier than I thought possible! Now, to make sure that fool Goku doesn't get in the way," he turned to walk down a side alley, only to be stopped by the all-too-familiar cloaked figure.

"Excellent work, Vegita," the other man said quietly.

Vegita bowed. "Thank you, Lord,"

The cloaked man chuckled evilly. "I advise you, however, not to lose sight of the mission, or _else_…" Vegita paled slightly at that, and the other man laughed still harder. "I'll be back to check on you soon enough, Vegita," and there was an audible _crack_ as the figure disappeared.

"Geez…" Vegita muttered. "What a creep…"

Meanwhile, Raphael was examining his tournament pass. He showed it to Yuna. 'What do you think?" he asked. "Does it look legit to you?"

"I'm no expert," she said, "but this whole thing sounds kinda fishy…" she saw the pleading look on his face. "But I don't see why we can't compete. Go ahead," she chuckled as Raphael ran off to the desk.

"Well, you two have fun," Malik laughed nervously. "I'll just… go grab myself a hot dog or something!" He made to leave, but Yuna grabbed him by his collar.

"No way, Malik," she snapped. "We go in this as a _team_, got that? Besides, I have a bad feeling about this, and we need your magic skills. Now come on!"

They rejoined Raphael to find a very disgruntled Kai examining the pass, as though determined to detect a forgery. "All right…" the little man sighed. "But I don't like this one bit! If you get hurt out there, it's my head in the smasher so you had better be CAREFUL! Now, prelims start in an hour, so be here by then!"

Raphael, Malik, and Yuna spent the next hour warming up, and making sure they were ready. Mokuba had dragged Kaiba out to the stadium to get seats with Rebecca and Yugi, who had purchased a fair amount of junk food between the three of them. Finally, a voice echoed over the loudspeaker. "Would Team Raphael please report to the stadium floor for your first match?"

Raphael led the trio out into the center of a huge stadium, onto a large, raised platform which (presumably) was where the fight was to occur. All three were awed by the sheer number of people, both human and otherwise, in the stands. Raphael waved timidly, but gasped when he saw who their opponents were.

"Heartless!"

Yuna and Malik whipped around, and saw he was right. Seven or eight shadow Heartless and three Soldier Heartless were gathered on the opposite end of the platform. Both groups looked up, however, as Kai's less-than-intimidating voice echoed throughout the arena. "Welcome to the Preliminary matches of the Kai Arena Hero Tournament!" Thunderous cheers roared throughout the stadium at this. "The rules are simple. Whichever team is rendered unable to battle first, is removed from the tournament! If you are knocked out of the arena, you are disqualified automatically! Is that clear?"

Raphael nodded, and the Heartless hissed an affirmative. "Excellent! Let the battle begin!"

Raphael, Malik, and Yuna spent the next twenty minutes battling their way through one wave of Heartless after another. Not only were Shadows and Soldiers present, but several other types the trio recognized appeared, including Large Bodies, and the little wizard-types, Red Nocturnes, Yellow Operas, and Blue Rhapsodies. After ten seeds or so, Kai called for the next team to come forth, and Team Raphael was given a chance to rest, something they were all too happy to take advantage of.

Meanwhile, Vegita was having problems of his own to deal with.

"It's just one lousy brat!" he yelled.

"Indeed, but 'one lousy brat' was never part of my contract," retorted a voice. It was cold, calculating, and enough to chill most anyone to the bone. The man stepped out of the shadows. He wore a brown tunic, cut off at the shoulders, revealing muscled arms. A deep purple cloak was draped around his shoulders, and a scythe was slung across his back. His face was obscured by a hood. "You only hired me to kill Son Goku."

Vegita scowled. "Listen, Magpie-"

The other man whipped his scythe out, and within an instant, the blade was pressed against Vegita's throat. "That's 'Magus,' you idiot. I suggest you at least get my name right if you want to live." He withdrew the blade, returning it to his back, and pulled back his hood, revealing his face. His pale, almost vampire-like skin matched perfectly with his eyes, which were blood-red in color. His pale blue hair flowed well past his shoulders, and his ears ended in long points.

"Look," Vegita explained. "Your contract is to kill Son Goku, and in exchange, I give you the means to get your revenge on _them_ and find _her_. Well, to get to Son Goku, you have to go through this kid. Take him out, and I'll make it worth your while…"

Magus smirked. "Alright, I'll play your little game, Vegita," His demonic smile grew still wider. "I just find it hard to believe that the legendary Prince of Saiyans is afraid of some snot-nosed brat with a key," his cold glare returned. "However, I hope you hold to your promise…" he turned away, and pulled his hood back up. "For your sake," and he floated off into the shadows.

"Dammit," Vegita swore, "I always pick up the most insane, creepy, sons of bitches…"

Whew, long chapter! Character Origins:

Son Goku: The main hero of Dragon Ball, Z, and GT. He's famous for the 'KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!' thing, and also for his gravity-defying hairdo.

King Kai: Goku's trainer while he was dead in the first season of DBZ. He's responsible for teaching Goku the famed 'Spirit Bomb,' the move he used to kick Frieza's arrogant ass.

Piccolo: Yes, the green man was indeed intended to be everyone's favorite Namekian. Famed for his trademark scowl, and the totally gross arm-regrowing thing.

Magus: Yes, I had the nerve to actually put the Mystic Wizard in here, as Another Heart's analogue of Cloud. He featured a supporting (and temporarily villainous!) role in Chrono Trigger, and is briefly referenced in the sequel, Chrono Cross, despite arguments that Guile is Magus P. I plan to have a lot of fun with this one!

NEXT CHAPTER: A MEASURE OF STRENGTH

Team Raphael Runs into Magus in the tournament, and Vegita has a few surprises in store for our heroes!

To the few people who DID review, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. (No pun intended!) But why are you peoples not REVIEWING! GAH! As for those of you who may be thinking that I'm having a lapse of sanity in including Magus, I felt it would be easier to imagine him in a DBZ-based world, seeing as how both are designed by Toriyama. That, and angsty, gothy-like Magus goes great with angsty, gothy-like Cloud!


	7. A Contest of Wills

**Another Heart**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own KH, DBZ, FF, CT, or YGO. There ya go. (Filthy lawyers…)

CHAPTER 7: A Contest of Wills

"Why are they letting Heartless enter the arena?" Raphael hissed.

Malik shrugged. "I don't know; it looks like they don't even fear the Heartless here, almost like it's entertainment for them…"

"Regardless of their 'entertainment value,' we have to take out the Heartless, or else this world may suffer the same fate…" Yuna countered.

At that moment, Kai walked in. "Well, you three have done better than I thought," he sighed. "Congratulations; you three are officially participants in the tournament," Raphael jumped up and started a small victory dance. "However," Raphael froze, "You have a few more matches left to determine where you'll stand. Your official prize," He handed a scroll to Malik. His eyes lit up as he scanned over it.

"It's a spell!"  
Raphael immediately peered over his friend's shoulder. "When in need of a force that can end any fight, with a flick of your wrist, call down Heaven's might…" A small bolt of lightning struck the ground before them. "Who writes these things, anyway?"

"It's Lightning magic," Kai explained. "Now get out there; your next opponent's already waiting!"

"Right…" Raphael led the way out the door. Once out on the platform, he noticed that it was empty, except for himself, Malik, and Yuna. "I thought he said our opponent was already out here?"

"He was right," said a cold voice behind them. A tall, pale-faced man with elflike ears was leaning against one of the pillars. "Took you long enough, Keybearer."

"How do you know about-"

"That's my business," he pulled a scythe from his back. "Time for you to die!" He rushed forward, and Raphael just barely brought his Keyblade up in time to block the scythe.

_Bloody hell, he's fast! _The man apparently noticed Yuna and Malik moving in to attack him, as he jumped over Raphael's head, and floated to the other side of the platform.

Malik cast Fire and Thunder in rapid succession, but the attacks barely fazed the man, who laughed. "You call that Thunder? _This _is Thunder!" He raised his right arm, pointing at Malik, and a ball of lightning appeared around the Egyptian, sending him flying. He rushed over, ready to finish the Egyptian off, but Yuna caught him in the back with several rounds from her guns. He glared, and raised his arm again, and a large sheet of ice crashed down on top of her. He smirked, and turned back to Malik, only to receive a fireball in the face. Raphael took advantage of the distraction, and brought his Keyblade down hard on the wizard's head, knocking him out of the air.

He pushed himself back up, and turned to Raphael, his eyes glowing red. He leapt high in the air, and pointed down at his opponent. "See how you like this, Keybearer!" He shot a ball of dark energy at the redhead, and it exploded on hitting the ground, engulfing him in black flames. Raphael collapsed to the ground, barely able to move. The next instant, the scythe was at his neck, and the purple-robed man was smirking down at him. "All too easy…" he raised his scythe, and glared coldly. "Time to pay the reaper, brat," at that moment, a rather large rock collided with his head, sending him sprawling to the ground. As he struggled to grab for his scythe, Malik rushed over and kicked it out of his reach. However, he got a large fireball in the back as a consequence. The wizard limped over to his abandoned weapon, but Raphael slashed at his back, causing the other to collapse. Raph pushed him over with the tip of his sword, and brought it to his neck.

"All too easy," Raphael panted. Magus tried to glare at him, but passed out.

Kai's voice boomed around the arena. "Magus is unable to battle. Team Raphael wins!"

"WHAT!" Vegita roared. He slammed his fist into the viewing screen he'd been watching, which did not end well for said screen. "That piece of shit kid actually beat him! This is bullshit!" He stiffened. "It's time for me to take matters into my own hands…" and he stormed off.

Meanwhile, back in the arena, Magus was recovering. "Damn, you're better than I expected,"

Raphael smirked. "You're not too bad yourself," then he sank to one knee, clutching a burn on his arm. "Ow…"

The older man smirked. "Whatever," he pulled a dark blue Potion out of his tunic, and drained it, his multiple cuts, bruises, and burns disappearing instantly. "You might want to get that looked at," he made to walk off.

Yuna and Malik had gotten back up and rejoined Raphael, both looking worse for the wear. "What'd you say your name was? Magus?" Yuna called.

Magus stopped. "That's correct,"

Raphael held out his hand. "I'm Raphael. I'll look forward to fighting you again,"

Magus's face retained its stoic look. "I underestimated you, a mistake I won't be making twice."

"Of course not," Malik said sarcastically. "Where'd you learn all that magic anyway?"

"That's none of your-"

"MAGGIE!" Vegita was running across the arena.

"_Magus,_ you fool, _Ma-gus!_ Are you braindead!"

"You're in no position to be making insults, Mickey," The saiyan prince sneered.

"Listen, I don't give a damn if you're a prince of saiyans, but-" Magus was cut short by the other man's fist getting rammed into his gut.

"Let me put it this way, Mac," Vegita kicked the wizard viciously in the side, causing him to cough up blood. "Three words: You. Are. Fired. Am I getting through that thick skull of yours?"

"Vegita, why are you doing this!" Raphael tried to run forward, but the saiyan pushed him over. "Because, brat, I want vengeance, and I want you and Marcus over here out of my way. At least this way, I can get two out of three. Say goodbye!" He raised his right arm, cupping his hand, which started glowing. "NOW DIE!" He shot an enormous beam of energy at Raphael, who closed his eyes, expecting to be incinerated, but the beam stopped about a foot away, straining against a shimmering blue barrier for a moment, then dispersing. Raphael looked around to see a smirking Magus, holding out an arm feebly.

"Get out of here, kid," he wheezed, and tossed a fireball at Vegita, who dodged.

Raphael tried to run and help, but Yuna grabbed his collar, and pulled him back. "Run! We can't handle him!"

"Yeah, but-"

"MOVE!"

The trio arrived back in the waiting room to find Kai in a panic. "What'll I do, what'll I do! Vegita will destroy my arena!"

"I-I'm pretty sure Magus can handle it," Raphael laughed nervously.

"Are you insane!" The little blue man screeched. "There's only one guy tough enough to beat Vegita, and he's not here! Goku, where are you!"

"Right here," said a voice. A fairly tall man walked into the room. He wore red training clothes, which cut off at the shoulders, with a large symbol inscribed on the back. A mess of black hair topped his head, which sported what, under normal circumstances, was a probably constantly smiling face. Now, however, the man's eyes were narrowed in anger.

Kai's eyes brightened at this man's arrival. "Goku! You have to stop Vegita! He's tearing up my arena, and scaring away the audience!"

"Right," Goku said determinedly. "Innocent people could get hurt. I'll be back," He ran through the door, and out of sight.

"You sure that Goku guy can handle Vegita!" Yuna said skeptically. "I mean, after what we saw-"

"Trust me," Kai said proudly. "There's nobody better for the job! After all, I trained Goku personally!"

Raphael cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, _that's _reassuring,"

"I know!" A large explosion sounded outside, accompanied by screams coming from the audience, and maniacal cackling coming from Vegita.

"Oh, _that_ sounds good," Malik said quietly.

Kai looked worried now. "Of course, Vegita _could_ have gotten stronger since he fought Goku last,"

Raphael stood. "That's it! I'm not gonna let him and Magus get hurt! I'm going out there!"

"Wait, kid!"

Raphael whipped out his Keyblade. "Don't you dare try to stop me, either, King Kai, or I'll-"

"I'm not trying to stop you!" He reached inside his robes and pulled out three tiny beans. He handed one each to Raphael, Malik, and Yuna. Before they could question his sanity any further, he said, "Senzu beans! No time to explain! Just eat them, and get out there and help Goku!"

Raphael looked at him quizzically, but did as he was told. In seconds, he felt the pain and fatigue leave his body entirely. Judging by Malik and Yuna's looks of shock and surprise, they had experienced similar reactions. They nodded grimly at one another, and followed Raphael out the door.

A bruised Goku was fending off Vegita, with an unconscious Magus slumped over his shoulder, scythe cloven in half to the side. He turned to the trio as they ran out. "Get back inside! It's too dangerous!"

Raphael shook his head. "No way! You can't fight and protect Magus at the same time! Besides, you're exhausted! We'll hold him off until you get back!"

Goku nodded. "Right. Be careful!" He ran back to the door, carrying Magus.

As soon as he was gone, Vegita raised his arm and blasted the door, sealing it with rubble. "But by the time he gets back, you'll be dead, Keybearer!"

"You lied to us!" Raphael growled. "I trusted you!"

Vegita laughed coldly. "_Trust!_ Ha! I'd like nothing more than to rip you limb from limb! Which, I might add," he smirked coldly. "won't be much of a problem!" He shot another beam at Raphael, who barely dodged it.

"We'll see about that!" Raphael leapt up, slashing at Vegita, but the Prince just floated higher, out of his reach. Meanwhile, Malik was frantically casting Thunder spells, while Yuna unleashed wave after wave of bullets, pausing only to load magazines into her guns. However, neither tactic seemed to have much of an effect on Vegita, who just smirked and fired off another beam, sending Raphael flying. Yuna tried to drop-kick him, but once again, he floated over her onslaught. "Come on!" Raphael called. "Get down here and fight like a man!"

"Alright," Vegita sneered, and crashed into the ground, punching Malik aside. "Let's kick it up a notch!" He swung his hand upward, middle and index fingers extended, and the ground started shaking.

"What the hell!" Raphael screamed, as several chunks of earth had just popped out of the ground, floating upwards. A wave then flew out from Vegita, crumbling the pillars and riddling the ground with gaping cracks. All three were knocked to the ground from the onslaught, but Raphael was first to recover. He rushed forward, and desperately slashed at Vegita, but the villain just jumped over the swing, returning to the air.

_Crap, I can't even hit him!_ Then, an idea occurred to him. "Malik! Can you bring him down with your Shadow Magic?"

The Egyptian looked thoughtful for a second. "I'll give it a shot!" He pointed the Millennium Rod at Vegita, who was suddenly surrounded by gold energy, paralyzed in midair. Malik slammed him into the ground, where he remained, unable to move. Raphael rushed in, slamming the Keyblade into Vegita's gut, then jumped out of the way as Yuna unleashed her 'Trigger Happy' technique. Malik released his hold, and Vegita stood shakily, blood dripping from his mouth. Raphael ran forward to finish him off, and Malik twirled the rod, channeling a Thunder spell into Raphael's Keyblade. Raphael slashed viciously at the Saiyan Prince, the electricity coursing through his body. The combined force sent Vegita flying into the only remaining pillar, which fell over on top of him. He didn't get up.

At that moment, the rubble in front of the door to the waiting room exploded outward, a very stressed-looking Goku running out after. He froze, gaping in disbelief at the crumpled Vegita beneath the pillar. "You… won…"

This prospect finally seemed to dawn on the people in the stands, who began cheering frantically.

"You did it, Raphael!" Goku clapped him on the shoulder, causing his knees to buckle. "Whoops, sorry,"

The audience fell silent. When Raphael looked around in confusion at the sudden halt, he noticed a heavily panting and bleeding Vegita limping toward him. Raphael instinctively drew his Keyblade, but Goku held him back.

"I'll get you yet, Son Goku!" the prince growled. "And _you_," he glared at Raphael. "Just wait 'til _he_ finds you! You'll be sorry you ever crossed me!" He jumped into the air, and flew off.

"That won't be the last we see of him," Goku said darkly.

"Then that won't be the last time we kick his butt!" Yuna replied.

"That's right!" Raphael chimed in. "We-"

He was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream. The four of them whipped around, expecting trouble, but were only met by a weeping Kai. "My stadium… You've ruined it!"

The four laughed out loud at this, and dragged him back inside.

In the waiting room were waiting Kaiba, Yugi, Rebecca, Mokuba, and a revitalized Magus. Raphael was tackled by the two cheering children, while Yugi was laughing out loud. Even Kaiba had donned a very half-hearted smile.

After finally calming down, Kai spoke up. "Raphael, Malik, and Yuna: it should be known that you have rendered this establishment a great service by driving away Vegita, (regardless of the damage you caused) and so I officially ordain Team Raphael participants in the upcoming tournament!" Yugi and the two children cheered, and Malik and Raphael exchanged high-fives. "However," Kai interrupted, "Owing to… damages unforeseen," he sniveled slightly, "the tournament will have to be postponed indefinitely, or at least until we can put the arena back together."

Kaiba scowled. "No problem; we're probably stuck here for as long, unless you have parts for our ship,"

Goku frowned. "What happened to your ship?"

"We were almost blasted out of the sky by Heartless ships," Yuna said sadly. "We took a lot of damage, so we're kind of stuck."

The warrior's face brightened for a moment. "Hey, I know who can fix your ship! My friend Bulma can handle it, no problem! She's really great with technology!"

"You sure?" Malik asked nervously. "I mean, we don't want to be any trouble…"

"Don't worry! It's the least we can do! Just let me go get her," and he walked off.

"I'd better go and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid," Kaiba grumbled, and stormed out of the room, Mokuba close behind.

Kai paused to wipe his sunglasses off on his robe, then said, "Sounds like that guy has a major stick up his-"

"I HEARD THAT!" Kaiba yelled from the doorway.

Kai yelped, and ducked under a bench. When he was certain retaliation was not coming, he stood back up with a dignified air, then whispered, "Nevermind. How about we grab something to eat?"

"Why are you whispering?" Raphael asked quietly.

"Because _somebody_ might hear, and-"

Goku poked his head around the corner. "Someone mention food?" Kai just groaned.

"No duh, you bottomless pit!"

After a everyone had eaten a fair amount, (excluding Goku, who had eaten at least twice as much as anybody else, and Magus, who had barely touched his food, and had merely left the table with a piece of bread in hand) and food had been delivered to Bulma, Kaiba, and Mokuba, Raphael and company were packing the belongings they had either brought with them, or purchased as souvenirs, into the jet. Inside, they found Kaiba arguing (big surprise) with a blue-haired girl, who they could only assume was Bulma.

"You are_ not_ putting anything on this jet that wasn't here before!" Kaiba screamed.

"Well, I suppose you _want_ to be turned into scrap by Heartless!" Bulma countered.

"Do you realize how much this jet costs! If you screw up the onboard computers-"

"Do _you_ realize that you're carrying your brother and five other people? Don't you think _they're_ more valuable than computers? I know what I'm doing!"

"I… that's…"

"Don't have an answer to that, do you? Now, are you going to let me do this or not!"

"What is going on!" Yuna interrupted. "What are you two arguing about!"

"I put faster engines and laser cannons on this thing, and now your friend is trying to stop me from wiring them into the system!" Bulma was turning red in the face by now.

"Kaiba, we need to have some form of defense against the Heartless, or the ship'll blow again!" Yuna said sternly.

Kaiba's scowl grew, if possible, even larger. "Fine," he huffed off into the ship, dragging Bulma into the cockpit. Malik chuckled to himself, and followed them up the ramp, Yugi and Rebecca following. Raphael looked back at the gates. _Are all the worlds we visit going to be this crazy? _He gazed up at the carved statues. _I'm coming back here, and as soon as I find Dom and Kiana, I'm gonna show this to them!_ Then his eyes landed on Magus, sitting on the shoulder of one, gazing off toward the moon.

"Hey, Magus!" The wizard jumped slightly, as if he'd been woken out of a trance, then saw the source of the noise, and leapt down.

"What is it, Raphael?" he looked almost annoyed.

"You coming, Raph?" Yuna called.

Raphael turned toward her. "Just a minute!" he then looked at Magus. "Hey, I'll be glad to give you a rematch any time!"

Magus's eyes flickered for a fleeting instant, filling with some untold emotion. Could it be sadness? Pain? Or, heaven forbid, pity? Raphael didn't get a chance to figure it out any further, as his face returned instantly to the permanent scowl. "Take these," he said simply, and pressed a small armload of papers into Raphael's arms, along with a scroll. "I no longer have use for them. The scroll is a sword technique, and the torn pages are all out of a spellbook somewhere, but I can't figure them out. I'm sure you could sell them or something," he made to move off.

"What's with you?" Raphael said quietly. Magus looked over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised quizzically. "I mean, first you try to kill me, and then you saved me, and now you're _giving_ me stuff? What gives!"

The wizard closed his eyes, swaying in tandem with a song only he could hear. Finally, he spoke. "The Black Wind howls… Those who should never have been lost are now scattered, as the worlds fade, one by one… I survived the Darkness yet again, and yet again, I am separated from the one that matters most to me…" he leapt into the air, and glided back to his perch. Raphael thought he heard him whisper something, a single word, but figured it was just the wind. _Schala…_

"Geez, I'll never figure that guy out," he muttered, and ran up the ramp into the jet, just as Bulma had finished wiring the cannons. He settled into a seat, (making certain he was strapped in), and began to examine the papers he'd received. He broke the seal on the scroll first, skimming over it. "Sonic Blade, huh? Sounds cool," he set it off to the side, intending to look at it later, and picked up one of the torn pages. He instantly recognized the symbols in the corners. "Hey! These are the pages that Zatch and Kiyo were looking for!"

"Zatch and Kiyo?" Yuna asked. "Who're they?"

"They're these two people I met in Traverse Town; they were looking for a bunch of pages like this," he showed her the page, and she nodded.

"What's that scroll?" She pointed to the item beside him.

"It's a sword technique Magus gave me," he replied.

Malik looked up, an expression of shock on his face. "_Magus_ gave that to you? After he was hell-bent on _killing_ you?"

"Yeah, weird huh?" Then he remembered the wizard's comment after. "Hey, does the word, 'Schala' mean anything to you guys?"

Yuna shook her head and Malik just shrugged. "I wouldn't stress over it. If you ask me, that guy is completely insane,"

"Yeah…" Raphael said quietly. He jumped as the engines roared into life, pushing the jet forward and up. He watched as the ground fell away beneath them, and the Kai Arena fell into the distance. "We are _so _coming back here," he whispered.

Yuna nodded. "Definitely,"

Well that concludes the 'Olympus Coliseum' chapters. Time for the reference section:

Bulma: A friend of Goku's since his childhood. She's really good with machines and the like.

For you Chrono Trigger fanboys/fangirls out there, there is a VERY good reason I am not going into details about a certain someone, so nyah.

Still not revealing the main villain, either!

Good news! I have a Wonderland!

Next Chapter: Crime and Punishment

Raphael and the gang run into yet another 'conniving thief', and no, I don't mean Rikku.


	8. Crime and Punishment

**Another Heart**

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Final Fantasy, or Lupin III. All I own are Raphael, Domovoi, Kiana, certain Heartless, and the original Keyblades that come with the story. Don't sue me.

CHAPTER 8: Crime and Punishment

Thanks to the new engines Bulma had been kind enough to install, the Kaiba Corp jet was progressing to the next world on radar in near-record time. In addition, thanks to the new cannons, Heartless ships posed little threat. Raphael had finished the scroll with Sonic Blade, and was now grudgingly sharing a bag of popcorn with Rebecca, watching the stars (and flaming chunks of Heartless ships) float past.

Malik had returned to his book, and Yuna had taken to staring blankly at a small necklace, bearing the same 'J' as the one on her shirt.

"Whatcha up to?" Yuna jumped slightly as she was shaken out of her thoughts. She quickly stowed the necklace in her pocket.

"Nothing, just… thinking," She sighed.

"So, who is he?" Raphael sat down next to her.

"I… what?"

"You miss someone, don't you? That necklace prolly belonged to a friend of yours, so who is it?"

Yuna sat, stunned by his observation. "You're pretty smart, you know that?" She pulled the necklace out again. "His name was Tidus. We were really great friends until our home got wiped out by Heartless. He… didn't make it,"

"Oh, sorry," Raphael said quietly. The two of them sat staring blankly out the window for a while, until Kaiba's voice came over the speaker.

"We're landing in ten minutes. Stay in your seats," he said simply, and clicked off.

After coming in through some fairly dense cloud cover, the KaibaCorp jet touched down in what Raphael thought to be a very busy airport. The minute he'd lowered the ramp, men in official-looking uniforms swarmed him, speaking angrily in a language Raphael didn't recognize. Kaiba apparently did, however, and began conversing with the suits, showing them some odd-looking papers, and apparently satisfied, they left.

"What was that all about?" Malik asked.

"We're in Paris, apparently, and they just wanted to see a landing permit,"

"And do you have one?"

"For the Paris of _our _world, yes. This obviously isn't the same Paris, though. They've never even _heard_ of KaibaCorp. Thankfully, the permit I've got checks out,"

"Alright, let's go!" Mokuba cheered, and made to run out of the jet, but Yuna snagged him by the collar. "Hey, what gives?"

"Not this time, Mokuba," She explained. "There might be fighting, and we won't be able to control what happens here. You and the others need to stay on the jet," she smiled warmly when the boy pouted. "So, are we ready to go?"

Malik and Raphael nodded, and the trio went out the door.

**WORLD: STREETS OF PARIS**

Raphael, Malik, and Yuna made it out of the 'airport' with few problems (some 'distractions' had to be made to get Yuna's pistols through customs, and not having passports or any other form of identification, yet more 'distractions' had to be made, mostly involving trashcans and other such things 'mysteriously' dumping their contents onto security guards), and were now were wandering the streets of Paris, having no clue as to where the hell they were supposed to be going.

It was sometime after their third failed attempt to communicate with a local that they ran into a very interesting scene indeed. In a plaza of sorts, a pair of people was surrounded by a large number of police, all pointing guns at them. Intrigued, Raphael stopped to look.

One of the cops stepped forward. He wore a brown trenchcoat, and a fedora was perched on his head. He, too, wielded a gun. "I've got you now, Lupin! Put your hands up, and no bullshit!"

One of the duo sighed. His black hair was slicked back, and he wore a suit with a color scheme that was… odd, at best. He had a black shirt and white pants and tie, as well as a bright red jacket. "You know what, Pops? You're right, absolutely right, I deserve to go to jail for all the crazy crap I've pulled," he winked at his companion, a beautiful brunette wearing a dark red dress, who nodded slowly, and inconspicuously pressed a button on her bracelet.

Meanwhile, 'Pops' continued ranting. "Damn straight! Lupin the Third, you are hereby under arrest for various charges I couldn't begin to count, and for the attempted theft of my heart!"

Lupin's eyes widened in shock. "Whoa now, Zenigata, I don't know nuthin about your heart; I thought this was about trying to steal the Mona Lisa!"

"That's bullshit Lupin and you know it! Only you could sink so low!"

"We have to do something," Raphael whispered.

"Yeah," Malik agreed. "If the Heartless are behind this, then that guy is innocent!"

"We can't interfere, it's a rule," Yuna shook her head. "In order to maintain the World Border, we can't meddle in the affairs of other worlds, nor can we let on that we're from any such worlds. Too many people would freak out if they knew,"

Zenigata pointed his gun at Lupin. "I oughta shoot you right now!" He began to pull the trigger.

"Wait!" Raphael yelled. Everyone in the square turned to look at him. "That guy's not the one who did it!"

_So much for protecting the Border…_ Yuna thought.

The man turned towards Raphael. "Oh, really? And just who the hell are you, Sherlock Holmes?"

"No, but I can tell you right now that he's not the one who tried to steal your heart! It was the H--!" he was cut short by a hand firmly clamping itself over his mouth.

"_We-can't-tell-anyone-about-the-Heartless!_" Yuna hissed in his ear. He nodded, and was released. It seemed the others in the square had no clue what to make of this, but largely ignored it.

Raphael quickly regained his composure. "Anyway, he's not the guy you're looking for!"

"You got proof? Show me proof!" Lupin and his companion were clearly taking advantage of the moment's distraction, as they were quietly sneaking off to a dark side alley. "You obviously don't know who this is! This is Lupin the Third, the lowest thieving scum to ever walk the planet!" He jabbed his finger behind him, to what was now empty air. He paused, most likely expecting some kind of sarcastic retort from the thief, but when none was forthcoming, he turned around, realized that there was no thief to give a sarcastic retort. "What the hell—DAMN THAT LUPIN!" He wheeled on Raphael and the others. "Because of you three, Lupin got away!" He motioned around to the other police officers around him. "Arrest them!"

Twenty-odd officers drew their guns or nightsticks simultaneously. "Hey, can't we at least talk this out?" Raphael said nervously. The group of officers all stepped forward. "Guess not," he muttered, but drew his Keyblade.

"_Now_ do you see why we're supposed to stay out of the affairs of other worlds?" Yuna exclaimed exasperatedly. "Now we're in trouble with the locals, and we might not be able to get out of this one!"

As Zenigata and his officers charged, Raphael's attention was drawn overhead as a helicopter swooped in over the would-be battle. To the trio's relief, someone inside tossed a ladder over the edge, which Yuna ushered Raphael up first. Yuna herself followed, and Malik climbed up last (though not before setting loose a few lightning bolts into the crowd).

Raphael was squashed in unceremoniously next to a man who, by any observation, was either a samurai or an idiot posing as one. His black hair hung loosely about his face, and he wore a set of white samurai robes with a blue top. A sheathed Katana rested at his hip.

An amused man's voice issued from the cock pit as the helicopter fled from the scene below. "Goemon, don't just sit there, at least introduce us, seeing as how my hands are full at the moment,"

The samurai shook his head. "Fujiko sent us to get you, after you helped them escape," he explained. "I am Goemon; he is Jigen," he nodded toward the as-of-yet-unrevealed pilot. Goemon was silent after that.

After a few minutes of awkward (and somewhat intimidating) silence, Raphael got up the courage to speak. "So… who's Fujiko, and what's up with that Zenigata guy?"

Jigen laughed from up front. "Fujiko? Really good-lookin' woman with brown hair?" Raphael flushed red slightly, and Jigen laughed. "As for Zenigata, him and Lupin've got a very long-standing rivalry. Prolly has somethin' to do with the whole 'Master Thief' thing. Zenigata's been taking it a little far lately though… It's stopped being just professional rivalry and it's become a personal vendetta for him. Guess old man Zenigata just doesn't have much patience for us anymore,"

"So… you guys are criminals?" Yuna said rather bluntly.

"Don't think of us as criminals so much as experts in the area of illegally taking possession of rare and valuable artifacts," Goemon said. "That's the way Lupin puts it, anyway,"

"Oh yeah, _that's_ a _huge_ difference," Yuna muttered, but was cut off by Jigen.

"There's Lupin; we're landing now," the helicopter veered left, to land on the roof of a building, on which Lupin's waving form could be seen. Jigen landed the aircraft without difficulty, and got out of the cockpit, revealing himself for the first time. He was a reasonably tall man, wearing a plain gray suit, the jacket left open. He, too, like Lupin and Zenigata, sported unnaturally long sideburns (Raphael reasoned that it had to be something of a fashion statement around here), which flowed seamlessly into a short beard. However, he had a hat pulled down low over his face, obscuring his eyes. "Where's Fujiko?" he asked.

Lupin's eyes narrowed. "Wasn't she with you?"

"She went back for you after telling us about these three," Goemon said, gesturing towards Raphael.

"Ah, dammit!" Lupin muttered, and jumped out. Jigen and Goemon quickly followed him. He pulled out a cell phone and dialed quickly, tapping his foot impatiently. After a few seconds, he swore and put the cell phone away.

"What happened?" Goemon asked, ever the calm one.

"It didn't even ring, I just got this really weird, static-y noise, only it sounded kinda more like hissing. Not even voicemail or a recording… I don't like this one bit. It coulda just been that the cops got her, but not even they could do that to--" he was cut off abruptly by a Large Body Heartless materializing in front of him. "What the hell?" He instinctively drew his gun, and fired off a few rounds, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the monster's stomach, and it instead rammed into him, sending the thief flying. Goemon leapt gracefully over the creature's swinging arms, however, and sliced the fiend's head completely off, and it disappeared.

Lupin got up quickly enough. "What the hell was that?" Jigen and Goemon also looked at Yuna expectantly.

Yuna kneaded her forehead for a minute, then answered calmly, "I suppose there's no point in hiding it any longer; that was a Heartless."

"And that means what to us?" Jigen asked.

"The Heartless are, essentially, exactly that; they are creatures born from darkness, who have no souls or emotions. They seek to destroy the Heart of every world they come across, which means the world itself, and everything on it, will cease to exist," she replied.

Lupin stood looking at her for a brief moment, then burst out laughing. "Okay, I get it now, this is some kind of joke Pops is playing on us to get us to give up! Nice one, but this is a little far-fetched even for him!"

Yuna shook her head sadly. "I wish it were. I--" A low peal of thunder crackled off in the distance. Everyone wheeled around, to behold a rather unsettling sight. In the center of the city, a large, oddly beautiful tower was built. However, the top of the structure was obscured by billowing black clouds, lit up by frequent bolts of lightning.

"Hm," Goemon observed. "I've never seen clouds low enough to cover the Eiffel Tower…"

Yuna's and Raphael's faces visibly paled, however. _That's the same type of clouds that showed up on the Destiny Islands!_ "Jigen!" The bearded man turned toward the redhead. "Can you take us there in the helicopter?" Jigen opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Lupin.

"Now, wait just a minute! We don't have time to be taking you all over Paris! We gotta find Fujiko!"

"Lupin, listen to me," Yuna placed a hand on the thief's shoulder. "If we don't get there in time, you, Fujiko, and everyone else on this world will be worse than dead. Is that what you want?" Lupin didn't respond. "And besides, if Fujiko is still around, in all probability, that's where she'll be!"

Lupin's face softened. "You're… not lying, are you?" Raphael, Malik, and Yuna all shook their heads no. "Well, what are we waitin' for? We got some Heartless ass to kick!"

With that, Jigen rushed into the cockpit of the helicopter, the others cramming in behind him. In no time, the vehicle lifted off into the air, and flew at top speed towards the looming tower. "So, we're gonna fight more of these Heartless things up there?" Jigen asked.

"Most likely," Malik said gloomily. "What worries me, though, is if we can even make it through that clou--"

Once again, Yuna's shriek of alarm rang out in their ears as the helicopter shook with a sudden impact. "Dammit all to—what IS it with men and moving vehicles?!"

Jigen's distressed grunt came from the cockpit.

"Not now, lady, something just threw a God damn fireball at us!"

"What?!" Everyone else exclaimed in unison, and rushed to the windows. It was true; a small army of Red Nocturnes had swarmed the helicopter, and were now launching Fire spells in rapid succession. The helicopter shuddered under another impact, and Jigen cried, "I can't bring her in like this! I've gotta land now!"

The full realization of this statement hit Raphael about two seconds after he heard it. As such, he was less than prepared for the sudden feeling of the aircraft pulling into as steep a dive as a helicopter could muster, and his stomach was left behind in its wake.

The helicopter made a rough landing about fifty feet from the base of the tower. As he cleared the door, he suddenly felt a strong hand push him face-down into the dirt. A split-second later, Raphael was made painfully aware of a large explosion behind him. He turned, and saw Lupin on the ground beside him, and the flaming remains of the helicopter behind him. "You… saved my life," he realized.

"You sure are a keen observer of the obvious!" he grinned, and got up to his feet with a grunt. "It was the least I could do,"

They turned to the others, who were mostly okay. Malik looked slightly singed, but was okay, Yuna was frantically trying to put out a small flame that had caught on the end of her skirt, and Goemon was likewise unharmed. However, Jigen, having been the last one out, was clutching a badly burned leg. The samurai spent a brief moment looking at it, then stood and announced, "He won't be able to walk, much less fight. You four go on without us. And hurry; I don't know how long I'll be able to hold them off,"

Raphael nodded, and turned to the others. "Alright, let's go!" He ran off, the other three in hot pursuit.

Standing at its base, Raphael could appreciate just how _enormous_ the Eiffel Tower was. He'd never seen anything so incredibly huge in his entire life! "How are we supposed to get up there, anyways?" He wondered aloud. "I damn sure ain't climbing that thing,"

"Believe it or not, this place is a pretty common tourist attraction. There's an elevator that takes you up, almost to the top, though you can reach the top with a stairwell," Lupin panted. "It oughta be right over… there!" he pointed to a large door clearly marked with the word, 'elevator'.

"Wonder what his first clue was?" Malik muttered, but stepped up to the elevator with everyone else.

Raphael ceremoniously pressed the 'up' button, but nothing happened. "What the hell? Why isn't it working?"

Yuna shook her head. "Maybe because the power's out?" She pointed to the 'emergency off' switch, which was quite clearly in the 'off' position.

"Oh. Yeah, that'd do it…"

"Lupin," Malik asked, "Can you maybe hot-wire this?"

"No prob," the thief said proudly, and experimentally pressed the button a few times. When no result was forthcoming, he promptly pulled his gun out and gave the control panel a hot-lead injection.

"What are you _doing_?!" Yuna cried. "Now how are we supposed to--" she was interrupted by the mechanical _whirr_ of machines coming to life. With a characteristic _ding_, the elevator doors slid open flawlessly, leaving the gunner standing speechless.

"You were saying?" Lupin asked smugly as he ushered her inside.

"Nevermind," the doors slid shut, and the elevator began climbing at a high rate. The group took this cherished moment to prepare. Raphael readied his Keyblade, Yuna loaded fresh magazines into her guns, Lupin made sure his own revolver had a full six shots in its chamber, and Malik twirled the Millennium Rod absently.

When the elevator slowed, and finally stopped, the sight that greeted the quartet was notably different from the one below. A dark ball floated overhead, and the clouds they had seen from the outside suddenly seemed much more intimidating, now that they were closer, and flashing with increasing frequency. Like the Destiny Islands, not a drop of rain was falling.

Lupin got out of the elevator first, just in time to see a flash of red cloth being dragged around the corner. "Fujiko!" He ran after her, cutting the corner, only to see her being dragged into a swirling dark portal by a pair of Soldiers. "FUJI!" He lunged for his busty partner, but hit nothing but wall. "Dammit, bring her back!" He pounded his fist on the wall, but the portal didn't reappear. "Bring her… bring her back…"

"No matter how hard you try to follow her, she cannot be recovered," All four turned around to see Zenigata standing on the railing. "She has been taken by the shadows, and soon the rest of this world will be as well."

"What the hell? Pops, are you off your rocker or something?" 'Zenigata' merely smiled. It wasn't a true smile, one of generosity, nor was it the cocky grin Zenigata was usually seen wearing whenever it seemed his nemesis was in arm's reach. It was cold, cruel, even… _sadistic_, and deep down in Lupin's heart, however little real use he got out of it, a realization hit Lupin: This was _not_ Zenigata, and chances were, whatever-it-was was not merely having a professional jealousy.

This revelation was further proven when 'Zenigata' removed his hat, revealing chrome yellow eyes. His trenchcoat was also discarded, and a set of long, black claws extended from his right hand. His skin turned black, and his clothes were replaced by purple armor. A black Heartless symbol materialized on his chest, and the transformation was complete.

"I've got you now, Lupin!" The creature cried in a twisted mockery of Zenigata's voice. It rushed forward and struck, leaving a crimson gash across the thief's chest. Lupin recovered, and pistol-whipped the Heartless in the face, sending it staggering back. Yuna fired several round into its chest, but they ricocheted off the armor, and the Heartless' fist grew into an enormous fist. It slammed into her, almost sending her off the edge. She managed to grab the railing, however, and hauled herself back on to the observation deck.

The Heartless tried to take advantage of her position, rushing forward to attack again, but Malik quickly cast a Thunder spell, stunning it momentarily. Raphael rushed in, striking it with the Keyblade, and it lashed out, leaving deep cuts on his skin.

_Dammit, he's too fast! I can't even hit him effectively!_ Raphael snarled, trying to ignore the stinging pain in his chest. _Wait a minute, that's it! Sonic Blade!_ He remembered the scroll Magus had given him. At his will, the Keyblade glowed with a white aura, and he dashed forward, slashing at the Heartless as he ran past. Thing was, we moved far faster than he could've expected, and thus when he performed four of these attacks in the space of about a half-second, it took Raphael several moments to realize that the demon had collapsed to the ground, clutching a chest that was now oozing thick black blood. Lupin walked up to it calmly, pulling out his gun.

"Sorry, Pops, but this is for your own good," he whispered, and pulled the trigger. Zenigata's Heartless went limp, and collapsed to the ground before disappearing, sending a glowing heart into the sky. A small, very familiar-looking scroll fell to the ground when the Heartless was gone. Raphael and Malik exchanged looks, and went to pick it up. They read in unison, "Here is a spell to end all heat,

Lupin turned away, his fist shaking violently. "Dammit, she's gone…"

Malik placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright. I'm sure she'll turn up…"

"You're not from here, are ya?" Lupin turned to the other three. "You're from some kinda weird other dimension, aren't you?"

Raphael grinned sheepishly. "I guess we've been found out, huh?"

"Promise me something, Raphael," Lupin said. "I want you to find Fujiko for me, okay? Bring her back, and when you do find her, give her this," he pulled a gold coin out of his pocket. It had a hole through the center, as if someone had shot it, and a short chain was looped through it. "She'll know who it came from," he winked, and then turned towards the elevator. "We should probably get goin--"

A bright light erupted behind them. As they turned, thinking the light was some kind of new enemy, The light slowly faded, transforming into something even stranger. On the side of the tower above them, the light had transformed into a large, glowing… well, there was no other word for it: _keyhole_. Raphael tentatively stepped forward, examining it. "What the…" without warning, the Keyblade began glowing brightly and shaking. "Hey, what the hell--" he winced as the handle grew to a scalding temperature. He tried to drop the weapon, but found he couldn't even unclench his fist, let alone drop the Keyblade. Just as the heat was becoming unbearable, a beam of light fired out of the tip of the Keyblade, striking the Keyhole in the center. A loud 'click' sounded from it, as if it had been 'locked', and disappeared. As soon as this happened, the Keyblade returned to normal, and the clouds surrounding the tower dissipated.

"Okay, what just happened?" Lupin asked shakily.

"I dunno," Yuna admitted. "But the clouds and the Heartless are gone, so it can't be bad, can it?"

"Hm, I suppose not," Malik said. "We should ask Rue when we get back to Traverse Town. I bet he'll know what it was," The other two nodded, and walked towards the elevator, Lupin following behind in severe confusion.

The trip back down was considerably less tense, considering there was not danger of being fried by Heartless this time around. Raphael took the coin out of his pocket. "So, what is this thing, anyways?"

"That," Lupin explained, "is a memento from the first heist we pulled as a group. Not only that, but the headlines the following day called me a Master Thief. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It's also a memento of," he laughed quietly, "the first time Zenigata ever tried to shoot me. He ended up blowing a hole right through the coin. It was funny as hell," the grin faded, and he turned away. "All this heartless crap has just blown everything straight to hell…"

Raphael looked away determinedly. Lupin was right, the Heartless had already ruined too many lives. _I have to do this now,_ he thought grimly. _For Domovoi, and Kiana, and Lupin…_ He made to return the coin to his pocket, but jumped slightly when the Keyblade started to glow as his hand neared it. "What the…" he picked it up with his other hand. Sure enough, each time the coin neared it, the keychain on the end shone brightly. "Wha… it's responding to the coin…" On an impulse, he looped the chain through the ring on the end of the blade, and to the collective astonishment of all occupants of the elevator, the Keyblade underwent a very strange transformation. The hilt shifted into a curved 'S' design, and the blade twisted into a shape that vaguely reminded him of an old-fashioned lock-pick.

"That…" Yuna was speechless for a moment, but quickly found her voice again. "I've never even heard about that. Apparently the Keyblade can shift forms… That's another thing to look into once we get to Traverse Town,"

"Yeah…" Raphael muttered quietly, examining his new Keyblade.

Unbeknownst to our heroes, a familiar group was spying on them once again. "What drew the Heartless to that world, anyway?" Vegita scowled.

The cloaked member from before shook his head. "The inspector was filled with lust for revenge; the darkness in his heart was what drew the Heartless." He smirked evilly, his eyes glowing red for a moment. "But his heart was weak; he was easily overpowered, and the Heartless overtook him. And besides," he gestured with a pale, long-fingered hand, "We did obtain one of the seven. It was not a total waste,"

Knives appeared, and spoke up angrily. "The brat's already found one of the Keyholes! What'll happen if he uncovers any more, huh? Answer that, oh fearless leader!"

Orochimaru also stepped forward. "Quiet, you fool!" His golden eyes flashed in anger. "The child's strength is not his own! Were it not for the Keyblade, we would have eliminated him the second we attacked his island,"

"Excellent point, Orochimaru; in fact, you should eliminate him yourself," their leader hissed.

Orochimaru paled, but bowed his head, muttering a simple "Master," before disappearing.

"The boy has no clue what is truly happening," the cloaked man chuckled. He snapped his fingers. "Myotismon!" The gaunt vampire Digimon appeared instantly, bowing his head. "Begin searching for the other five,"

"There may be delays, my lord. A white sorceress has been interfering with my plans--"

"It matters not. Be gone," he dismissed the other with a wave, who bowed once again, fading into darkness. "Foolish boy," he gazed on the floor behind him. There, bound and gagged, was a beautiful brunette woman, in a tattered red dress. "Yes, by the time he even realizes what's happening, the Seven will be within our grasp…"

Meh, I didn't care much for this chapter, but I'm in kind of a writing slump right now. I'll be working harder to make sure the next chapter's up to scratch, so don't worry!

Speaking of which,

NEXT CHAPTER: Crash Landing!

Raphael crashes the KaibaCorp Jet onto a strange, hostile world. Separated from his friends, can he survive the wrath of Orochimaru?

Heartless Mentioned:

Red Nocturne: Small, magical Heartless that float in the air. Their only attack is Fire, and can be really annoying when in numbers…

Deceiver: An original Heartless created by moi. Essentially, it can assume the form of the person it was spawned from.

New Keyblades:

Master Thief: A light, easy to use blade that raises magic power. (A/N: It was meant to be loosely based off of a lockpick.)

Also, I have been making visual designs of the various original Keyblades. They can be found on my Deviantart account (http://www.blackluminaire. Be warned, they were done in MS Paint, and thus were hell to put together, but it's something. As soon as I can get my scanner working, I'll be posting concept art as well.


	9. Crash Landing!

**Another Heart**

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Naruto. Once again, Raphael, Domovoi, and Kiana are mine. You can't sue me, but I can sue you if you steal them, so HA!

CHAPTER X: Crash Landing!

Raphael was bored out of his mind. It was taking forever to reach the next world, and of course, Kaiba was being a complete ass about nearly everything. So, here he was, nursing his fifth soda, and staring blankly out the window. Yugi was curled up in a chair, snoring away, and Malik had taken to idly flipping the shade on his window with his Millennium Rod. Mokuba was of course snoozing in the cockpit, and Rebecca was playing a game of Solitaire on her laptop. The only one onboard who was doing anything productive was Yuna, who had busied herself by cleaning her twin pistols. She gazed out the window for a moment, then smiled.

"Raphael, look!" she pointed out the window to a planet covered in water, with several large green lumps, which Raphael assumed to be landmasses. He stared in awe at the beautiful planet; he'd seen pictures of his own world from space in textbooks, of course, but this was just so much more… _breathtaking_.

"Is that where we're headed?" Raphael whispered.

"I think so," Yuna answered. "Go ask Kaiba; he's in charge,"

Upon arriving in the cockpit, Raphael noticed that Kaiba was preparing to turn the ship around. "Wait a minute, what are you doing!" Raphael cried.

"My scanners aren't picking up any technology or cities," Kaiba retorted coldly. "The Pharaoh would have no business being in a place like that, so I'm turning around,"

"But wait! What if Domovoi or Kiana are down there?"

Kaiba returned his gaze to the controls. "That's not my problem,"

Raphael just glared. "Why are you such a heartless bastard?"

Kaiba didn't answer. Then, an idea came to Raphael. "Look, I don't care about what your stupid scanners are picking up! I'm going down there!" He seized the control from Kaiba's hands and veered towards the planet, punching the button titled, 'Activate Landing Sequence'

"What the hell are you doing! You'll crash the ship, you idiot!" Kaiba roared, and yanked Raphael from the joystick. He frantically jabbed at a few switches, but apparently to no avail, as he flipped the 'fasten seatbelt' light on, and shoved Raphael bodily from the cockpit, slamming the door behind him.

Malik was staring at him quizzically. "What on earth did you do?" Raphael shook his head sheepishly in response, and jumped into the nearest seat, wrestling with the seatbelt.

In roughly two minutes, the jet had begun to shake violently from entering the planet's atmosphere. Raphael looked out the window just in time to see a sea of trees, going off in all directions. His last conscious thought was, _What the hell did I just do?_ Then his head collided with the seat in front of him, and his world went black.

Malik woke up face-down in the dirt. "Oh, my head…" he moaned, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He took a whiff of the air, which smelled heavily of gasoline. _What smells so bad? _He turned around, and gasped. The jet was crashed into the ground, and was on fire in several places. Kaiba and Mokuba were frantically attacking the burning areas with fire extinguishers. "Oh, boy, this is gonna be bad…" He called out to Yugi. "Yugi, where's Raphael!"  
"We don't know," the boy said sadly. "We think he got thrown off in the crash,"

Kaiba just scowled. "So what! It's his fault we crashed in the first place! I say good riddance!"

Yuna sighed at his retort. "I only hope he's…" she gasped. "Malik, look out!"

Malik didn't even have time to turn around before he felt the blade against his throat.

**WORLD: FIRE COUNTRY**

Malik wasn't the only one who woke up with a headache. Raphael stood shakily, groaning. "Youch, that was a bad one…" He gasped as he felt a sword being pressed against his throat.

The man holding the sword hissed in his ear, "So, the Keyblade-Master finally awakes… Yes, Orochimaru will be pleased indeed…"

Raphael did the first thing that came to mind: he elbowed the man in the gut. He was obviously not expecting a counterattack so soon, because he backed away, cursing. "What do you want with me!" Raphael shouted. He had jet-black hair, and eyes to match. He was wearing a deep black set of samurai-style robes, complemented by a forehead protector with a musical note engraved in it, and held out an intricately crafted katana.

"Only to present you to him," he retorted.

"And who exactly is 'he,' and who are you?"

The man rushed forward, swinging his sword down. Raphael barely had enough time to block it with the Master Thief, and struggled to hold the attack off. The man smirked. "As I said before, 'he' is Orochimaru," he pulled his sword back, and arced it towards Raphael's side, but once again, Raphael just barely blocked him. As the man chuckled slightly, Raphael realized, much to his dismay, that this man was _toying_ with him. "And my name," he swung again, this time leaving a thin trail of blood across Raphael's chest, "is Itachi. Remember it," He brought the point of his blade to Raphael's throat, who was by now shaking with fear.

Suddenly Itachi screamed and clutched at his arm. Raphael soon saw why; a throwing star was embedded in his shoulder.

"Hey Itachi, get the hell outta our town!" Raphael looked toward the end of the alley he was in, to see… A child. His spiked, blonde hair was held up by a headband similar to Itachi's, only it had a leaf symbol instead. He was also wearing a jumpsuit that was an outrageous shade of orange. Problem was, he looked to be barely twelve, maybe thirteen. Raphael groaned; now he was going to have to protect this kid from the madman. He raised his Keyblade, ready to fight, but to his astonishment, the kid made some weird sign with his hands, and cried out, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and in the instant that followed, the alleyway was filled with carbon copies of the same kid, all of which cracked their knuckles menacingly. Itachi cursed, and formed another sign with his hands, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The 'shadow clones' disappeared in a flash, and the younger boy walked up to Raphael. "Ya can't let assholes like Itachi do that; you coulda been killed!" He stepped back, taking in Raphael's appearance. "You sure are dressed weird for a ninja. Which village are you from?"

It took Raphael a moment to process this question. "Village…" His mind went immediately to his island home, and he felt sick for a moment. Not knowing anything about the world he was in, he chose the easiest answer. "I… don't remember," he lied, and hung his head for dramatic effect.

The boy looked suspicious for a moment, but smiled and said happily, "Well, that's okay! I can help you out! I'm Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha Village, and the greatest ninja of all time!"

_I highly doubt that,_ Raphael thought. "Anywho, I'm looking for my friends! The big loud one is Kai--" he stopped. _Screw that jerk._ "I'm looking for my friends Domovoi and Kiana. Have you met anyone by those names?"

"No, but I betcha we can find them! Come on!" He grabbed Raphael's hand, pulling him along.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" An irate voice shrieked. Raphael was forcibly reminded of Mint, and felt even more homesick. The duo turned around to see a pink-haired girl standing at the end of the alley, her hands on her hips in a very matriarchal way.

_Where have I seen her before?_ Raphael wondered. He didn't have long to ponder this, however, as the pink-haired girl had just slapped Naruto across the face. "Where have you been! Just because Sensei is late all the time, doesn't mean you have an excuse to do the same!"

"But Sakura--" Naruto whined.

"But nothing! And what's more--" she apparently had just noticed that Raphael was standing there. "Who are you?"

"That's what I was trying to say!" Naruto exclaimed. "Raphael here was getting his ass handed to him by Itachi, and I was helping him out!" Raphael winced at the comment, but said nothing.

"What's Itachi doing in Konoha?" Sakura wondered.

Yuna pulled her guns on the stranger. His silver hair was held up by a forehead protector, which also covered his left eye. He wore a tan vest over a black shirt, and a black face-mask also obscured the lower half of his face. "Who are you?" He asked, not removing the kunai from Malik's throat. "And what do you mean by crashing that _thing_ in the Konoha woods?" When Yuna did not lower her guns, he pressed the blade harder against Malik's throat, loosing a tiny trickle of blood. "Lower your weapons, and answer me!" Yuna reluctantly obeyed. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Kaiba.

"Look, I think it's quite obvious we didn't crash-land in this technological void, so lay off!" This outburst was rewarded by a shuriken grazing his cheek.

The stranger stared coldly at him. "You're in no position to be making threats. Do you even realize where you are?"

Once again, Kaiba tried to retort, but was halted when Yuna chucked one of her guns at his head. "No, not really. Could you let go of my friend there?" The man pushed the left side of his forehead protector up slightly, revealing his left eye. Although Yuna couldn't see it from the distance she was at, it had turned blood-red, the iris spinning almost like a wheel.

He reluctantly removed the knife from Malik's throat, who rubbed his neck tenderly. When the group turned back to this new man, he had replaced his forehead protector over his eye. "You're all coming with me," he said simply.

Kaiba tried to make a snappy response a third time, and this time a boot collided with his head. "Who are you, anyway?" She asked, stooping to retrieve her 'misplaced' possessions.

"Hatake Kakashi," the man replied coolly, and then motioned to his charges. "Again, come with me,"

"What went wrong?" Orochimaru gazed coldly at Itachi, his amber eyes glaring intently.

"That brat Naruto interfered. There was nothing I could do without drawing attention,"

The other man's eyes narrowed. "I… see. Do I need to reinforce how _dire _our situation is?" That boy with the key seeks to take the power of the demon fox! If he succeeds, we're finished! Go back, and finish the job this time!" The samurai nodded, and left.

"Fool," Orochimaru muttered. "He'll go on believing whatever I tell him,"

At that moment, a young boy of about twelve entered, wearing a dark blue shirt with a fan design on the back, black hair, and eyes to match. The older man instantly put on a much more fatherly air. "Sasuke, my boy, and how are you today?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I am fine," he said quietly. "You called for me?"

Orochimaru nodded, smiling. "Indeed I did. Tell me boy, do you remember your old friend Sakura?"

The boy's eyes widened. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing, just… convince her to come along with you, and bring her to me. Do this for me, and you'll have your revenge," He smiled when the boy's eyes lit up at the mention.

"What are you going to do to her?"

"Rest assured, my boy, I will not disturb a single hair on her head, on my honor,"

"Yeah, however much that's worth," he scoffed, but bowed and left the room.

"That one, on the other hand…"

"Having fun, Orochimaru?" a voice hissed.

He turned to face his employer. "My lord!" he dropped to one knee, bowing his head.

"What are you doing?"

"I-I have pinpointed the location of the third princess," he stuttered.

The other man chuckled slightly. "That is all well and good, Orochimaru, but why are you still here, then?"

The Sennin failed to find an answer.

"If all you are good for is sending others to do your dirty work, Orochimaru, then perhaps our little group cannot benefit from your services…"

"No, my lord! I am capable!"

"Good. Now put that cunning intellect of yours to the task, and find the Keyhole,"

Orochimaru bowed his head. "Yes, my Lord, I thank you for your--" but the other man was gone.

Another cliffhanger. Bite me. Yes, I am perfectly aware that this chapter was short. More action in the next chapter, I promise!

NEXT CHAPTER: Ninjas, Heartless, and Keyholes! Oh my!

The brothers Uchiha aren't the only problems Raphael has to deal with. Dysfunction among the group leads to a feud! Can the group pull itself together in time to face Orochimaru and save Sakura?

No new Heartless.

No new Keyblades.

To the new reviewers:

Logan: Thanks for your input.

ZeNfindr: Thanks for your idea! I'll definitely use that!


	10. Ninjas, Heartless, and Keyholes, Oh My!

**Another Heart**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Final Fantasy, or Naruto. Bite me.

Okay, I understand that the last chapter sported some pretty outstanding plot mutilations. I took the plot of Naruto, mutilated it, burned it, and took a leak on the remains. I'm truly sorry for that. I'll do my best to fix it in this chapter, because I've actually paid attention to Naruto for the past few weeks, and now I understand things much better.

So again, sorry for the horribly maimed plot.

CHAPTER X: Ninjas, Heartless, and Keyholes, Oh My!

"So, where are we going anyway?" Raphael asked. Sakura, who was obviously still irate, answered venomously.

"We're TRYING to find our sensei. We were supposed to meet him, but then SOMEBODY had to get in a fight with the second most dangerous missing-nin around!"

Raphael recoiled. For being three years his junior, Sakura certainly had an air of command.

"Sakura! Naruto!" A voice rang out behind them. Raphael whipped around. The owner of the voice was a strange individual indeed; a forehead protector like Naruto's covered his right eye, restraining his spiked silver hair. And behind him was…

"Guys!" He rushed past the strange man, and grabbed the nearest person he could find. "I was so worried! I--" he then realized that he had grabbed on to Kaiba's hand, and turned away coldly. "So, how's the jet?"

Kaiba looked like he would explode. Yuna cut him off. "It's fine, Raphael. There's nothing damaged that we can't easily repair," she smiled warmly, and then slapped him across the face. "What the HELL were you THINKING?! We could've been KILLED! YOU could've been killed! THEY could've been killed!" She pointed at a thoroughly bewildered Naruto, Sakura, and Mystery Man. She fell silent, panting heavily in her rage, then regained her composure. "I'm okay…"

The silver-haired man cleared his throat. "If you're done, then I must report to the Hokage. If you would be so kind…" He motioned for them to follow him, and turned, only to be cut off by a black-haired boy around Naruto's age.

"You're not going anywhere," he said coldly. "Or at least until I get Sakura,"

Kakashi moved protectively in front of the girl. "What do you want with her, Sasuke? Or more correctly, what does Orochimaru want with her?"

"That's no business of yours," Sasuke retorted. "All you need know is that Orochimaru demands Sakura be delivered,"

"Does he now?" Said a voice from behind them. Itachi from before had appeared. "What a coincidence; I've been sent to assassinate the Keybearer," he smiled. "Perhaps we could work together, brother,"

"Like I'd ever work with you. Go kill your Keybearer, but leave me out of it," he drew a kunai from his belt. "Come Naruto, if you dare," he rushed the blonde, slashing at him. Naruto quickly engaged him, trading blows with the other ninja.

"Sakura!" Kakashi barked as he blocked a blow from Itachi. "Take the others and go!" Sakura nodded, and led Mokuba, Rebecca and Yugi down a side-alley, Kaiba reluctantly following.

Yuna quickly leapt to Kakashi's aid, blasting away at the samurai. Meanwhile, Naruto, Malik, and Raphael were having their own difficulties. Sasuke was younger than everyone but Naruto, but he was far faster. He lashed at Malik with a shuriken, simultaneously blocking an attack from Naruto. Raphael rushed in with his Master Thief, striking the younger boy in the stomach before retreating under a hail of kunai. Malik launched a Blizzard spell at him, and Sasuke was stunned long enough for Naruto to ram a fist into his gut.

"You won't touch Sakura," he growled.

Sasuke, now on one knee, smirked up at his rival. "That's what you think," he looked at something behind them, and nodded at it, teleporting away. The trio, along with Yuna and Kakashi, who had by now fended Itachi off, looked around.

A small group of strange Heartless was standing ready to attack. The first type wore what looked to be dark purple samurai robes, the Heartless symbol stitched on the back. These also carried wicked-looking katanas. The second group was wearing forehead protectors like the other people in the village, but with the Heartless symbol where the leaf would be. They all carried large shuriken as well.

"Great…" Raphael muttered.

"What the hell are those things?" Naruto looked towards Kakashi fearfully.

"I don't know…" He backed away. "These aren't any normal creatures… We might need reinforcements on this one. I'll be back as soon as I can," he disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Wonderful," Yuna muttered, "Running off in the heat of battle…"

"Hey, back off Sensei! If he says he's getting reinforcements, he's getting reinforcements!" Naruto cried indignantly.

"Okay, people?" Raphael interrupted. "There's a group of demonic creatures waiting to devour our hearts right now, so can you guys just fight later?"

"Good point," Malik said, and blasted the first Heartless that had come close with a fireball.

"Alright, then! Here goes nothing!" Naruto charged the Heartless, raining shuriken down on them. Raphael followed, using Sonic Blade to take out numerous Heartless. Yuna and Malik exchanged glances, but leapt into the fray.

The first thing Raphael noticed was that these particular breeds were marginally tougher than the run-of-the-mill Shadow and Soldier Heartless; it took several strikes with Master Thief to take them down. The samurai types were of course brutal in close combat, and the ninja-looking ones were constantly throwing stars at the four of them. Despite all this, they managed to take out most of the Heartless that had appeared, and permitted themselves a moment to breathe.

"Okay, question:" Naruto panted. "What the hell are these things, and why are there so many of them?"

"No idea," Yuna lied, "But--" At that moment, a group of Heartless appeared, this time even larger than the first. "Oh, come _on_!"

The Heartless moved to attack, but found themselves pinned down under a virtual hurricane of shuriken. Most, if not all, of them fell dead, and the remainder fled.

Kakashi was standing on a rooftop above them, along with numerous ninja in black armor. Next to him was a fairly young-looking blonde woman. From the way the others crowded around her, and the way they moved aside to let her pass, Raphael figured that she was a leader of some kind.

"They're coming in greater numbers now," she observed dryly. "So, these are the 'outsiders' I was told of," She smiled. "It appears that we have nothing to fear from you. Tell me, what are your names?"

"Raphael," Raphael stepped forward, and pointed back at the other two. "And they're Malik and Yuna. Now what's yours?"

"I am Tsunade, Hokage of this village. Now tell me, how is it you and the others came to be in this village?"

"We… um…" Raphael looked to Yuna expectantly, who sighed.

"Your ladyship, we have come to eliminate the creatures which have appeared in your village," she groaned inwardly, knowing that she was probably setting them up for serious trouble later. "We are here to help, and mean no harm,"

"Indeed," Tsunade said. "If that is true, then how do you explain the flaming wreckage outside our--" she was cut off by a shriek coming from the alley Sakura and the others had fled into.

Naruto and Kakashi were both off like a shot, Yuna and Malik in hot pursuit.

"Yeah, I'll be going now…" Raphael said nervously, and took off after the others.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Tsunade cried angrily at the ninja. "After them!"

By the time Raphael arrived at the problem, the danger had apparently already passed. Nothing seemed wrong, except that there was nothing there.

"What happened?"

Kakashi held up a scrap of fabric. The same musical note from Itachi's headband was etched on it in black ink. "They took Sakura, and your friends as well, it seems,"

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Raphael cried. "Let's go get them!"

"Yeah!" Naruto chimed in. "We can't let snake-face get a hold of Sakura!"

"If you ask me, it's a trap," Yuna said quietly. "That Itachi person said he was supposed to assassinate you, Raphael. And it can't be mere coincidence that Sasuke kidnapped Sakura…"

"And what's more," Malik added, "They both seemed to be working with the Heartless,"

"What, are you trying to say that we should leave Sakura behind?!" Naruto growled. "'Cause there's no way I'm gonna let that freak Orochimaru hurt her!" he turned to Kakashi. "Those who disobey orders are scum, but those who abandon a comrade are worse, remember?"

"And here I was thinking you never paid any attention to my lectures," Kakashi chuckled. Then his mood turned much more serious. "But Yuna is right. It is most likely a trap, which means we must be careful. I suggest we split into two teams; we will be able to more effectively attack them. Better yet, if we can locate Sakura's chakra, it should lead us right to your friends!"

Sasuke dropped the pink-haired girl's limp form at his master's feet. "There. Now what is it you want with her, Orochimaru?"

The sennin only smiled at him. "Nothing. _He_, on the other hand, has great need of her…" He gestured to a cloaked figure behind him. "Well done, Orochimaru… I believe a reward is in order…"

"My Lord! You are too kind!" the golden-eyed man knelt before the other, while Sasuke looked on in awe and fear. If Orochimaru was calling this man 'Lord,' he had to be extremely powerful.

"This," the cloaked man deposited a black gem into Orochimaru's hand. "will grant you the ability to extract a heart from one individual, thus transforming them into a Heartless…"

Orochimaru's eyes widened. "You are sure, my Lord?"

"Of giving it to you? Of course. But beware," a red glint shone in the other man's eyes, "just because you summoned it, do not expect such a Heartless to obey your orders…" A loud _crack_ sounded through the air, and in that instant, the other man was gone, and Sakura with him.

Orochimaru turned back to Sasuke. "Get Itachi, and bring that blasted brat with the Keyblade to me at once! And use the Corridor; it's faster than on foot!"

The black-haired boy was still reeling from this strange turn of events, but found himself bowing, before turning to leave. _What's going on here? Who was that man?_

Tsunade sighed. "I can't find her… Sakura doesn't seem to be anywhere within my range,"

"And what _is_ the range on your chakra-finder-thing?" Raphael asked.

"Let me put it this way: if she's on this planet, alive or dead, I can find her," the blonde said through gritted teeth. "What's confusing, though, is I can get a general sense of where Orochimaru's chakra is coming from, but Sakura's is nowhere to be found… Almost like she's disappeared completely…" All occupants of the room fell silent at this revelation.

"I have an idea," Malik said quietly. "Kaiba told me that he has these locators installed in these necklaces that he and Mokuba wear. In theory, provided one of them is still wearing a necklace, we can find them,"

"Well that's great Malik," Yuna said sarcastically. "But we don't have a GPS locator, so… yeah,"

"Wait, the jet has a computer!" Raphael said.

"We're not a hundred percent certain Kaiba's scanners work without a satellite signal to carry off of," Yuna replied. "Remember, he was the one who said that there were no cities down here, when there quite clearly are,"

"That's most likely because of the barriers surrounding the villages," Kakashi supplied. Everyone turned to look at him. "There are actually many villages scattered around here. Each village has a barrier set up around them, so that no form of external sensors can detect them, unless of course one happens to be able to sense the chakra surrounding such a place. We're not called 'The **hidden** ninja villages' for nothing, you know," he smiled. "As far as I can tell, your friends have no such barrier around them, so your scanners should work,"

"That still doesn't solve the problem with Sakura," Naruto muttered. "Why did Sasuke take her?"

"I don't know," Tsunade answered. "But if we want to get to the bottom of this, rescuing their friends is as good a place to start as any,"

xxxxvxxxxx

"You know, I really didn't think this through," Malik said quietly. Raphael, Malik, and Naruto had gone to the Kaiba Jet in hopes of working the computer and finding the numerous missing people, while Yuna and Kakashi had stayed behind to try and locate Orochimaru. What none had counted on was that most (if not all) of their party were mostly (if not completely) computer illiterate. The fact that Kaiba's computer seemed to have more buttons than any normal computer should have been allowed to have did not help.

"So, um…" Raphael stared at the mass of knobs, switches, and otherwise unintelligible items, utterly nonplussed. "Well, I know one way to find it," he pressed a button experimentally, and the laser cannons on the ship blasted away roughly twenty feet of trees. "Okay…" he pressed another one, and the ship's engines fired, burning up any foliage near the back of the ship. Panicking, Raphael switched them off. "Dammit, there's too many buttons! Which one is it?!" He kicked the console viciously, and only succeeded in hurting his foot.

"How about the one that says 'GPS Locator' on it?" Malik said, pointing to a switch on the far right.

"Oh yeah, that might work," Raphael admitted. He ceremoniously flipped said switch, and a kind of radar display appeared on the computer's screen. Up in the top-right corner, two faint blips appeared side-by-side, one red, one blue.

"That's good, right?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe," Malik said. "We know that something is there, but we don't know if it's Kaiba and Mokuba, or something else. What's more, we don't know how far away it is. It could be five miles, or five hundred…"

"Arrgh, I freakin' hate computers," he kicked the console again, and much to the shock of everyone else in the vicinity, the computer actually did something; the radar screen disappeared, instead displaying a string of information:

SIGNATURE A: LOCATOR CARD Kaiba, Seto

LOCATION: 103.5 KM NORTH-NORTHEAST

SIGNATURE B: LOCATOR CARD Kaiba, Mokuba

LOCATION: 103.5 KM NORTH-NORTHEAST

DISPLAYING TOPOGRAPHIC DATA…

The words disappeared, followed by what Raphael could only assume was a map, though the lines covering the screen made absolutely no sense to him. "Okay…" he jumped back in alarm when the computer started beeping, and a sheet of paper slid out of a slot beneath the screen, showing the same unintelligible lines. "I _really_ don't like computers…"

"We should go back and show this to the others," Malik said. The other two nodded.

xxxxvxxxx

Back in Tsunade's office, Yuna and Kakashi were having troubles of their own.

"Are you going to tell me where the Keybearer is, or am I going to have to make you scream it?" Itachi glared, leveling his sword at them.

"What does Orochimaru want with Raphael, or Sakura for that matter?" Kakashi asked, drawing a kunai.

Itachi only smirked. "I thought your precious code states that a shinobi need not know the reason for a mission, only follow orders without question?"

"And what would you know about that?" Kakashi retorted. "You turned your back on your own village!" He threw the kunai, but it was easily blocked.

"I see we're going to have to do this the hard way…" he snapped his fingers, and numerous Samurai Heartless appeared. "Prepare yourself!"

Kakashi looked over at Yuna, nodding grimly. They both drew their weapons, ready to fight.

"Not so fast!" A fist collided with the side of Itachi's head, sending him sprawling to the ground. Naruto stood over the samurai, scowling. "If you think for one second that you're gonna get Kakashi-Sensei, then think again!"

Itachi quickly pushed himself off the ground, landing nimbly on his feet. "Please. I want nothing with that copycat fool. It's you I want," he pointed his katana at Raphael, who paled.

"Oh yeah?" Raphael summoned Master Thief. "Well what the hell do you want with me anyways?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter, seeing as how you're going to die anyways," the samurai smirked. "I have been ordered to kill you because you are seeking to use the Kyuubi. Obviously, I cannot allow this. So, you must die." Naruto and Kakashi's eyes widened in shock for a moment.

"Kyuubi? What the hell are you talking about? Is that some kinda shampoo or something?"

"Just shut up and die!" Itachi charged, and Raphael blocked the attack just in time.

"Not this time!" Raphael growled, and swung the Master Thief at Itachi's head. The samurai raised his own sword to block it, but at the last second, Raphael arced his swing down, catching the man in the stomach. With a grunt, he followed the attack with a dizzying flurry of combos, leaving Itachi helpless to do anything but block.

"This fury…" he grunted, just barely managing to fend off the attack. "Impossible, you are nothing!"

"No," Raphael said triumphantly, kicking Itachi away from him. He nodded at Yuna and Malik, who backed away, Kakashi and Naruto following suit. "You're the one who's nothing! Sonic Blade!" He felt the rush of energy to his legs, and dashed at Itachi, striking him with his Keyblade, causing him to be knocked off his feet. Raphael hit the wall, rebounded off it, and leapt at Itachi again, slamming him up into the ceiling. Immediately after, he bounced off the ceiling and another wall. For him, the whole world seemed to slow down as Itachi's airborne body rushed towards him. Spinning the Keyblade in midair, he turned around as he passed the samurai, slamming the thick barrel into his gut and sending him plummeting to the floor. In the instant before the hit connected, he thought he saw a flash of red in Itachi's eyes, but figured it was largely unimportant, and landed as Itachi crashed into the floor, panting heavily.

"Anyone else want some?" he panted, brandishing the Master Thief at the remaining Heartless. They seemed to sense that they were beaten, and disappeared.

The room was deadly silent, the other occupants staring at the panting Keybearer in awe.

"Yeah! Kickass!" Naruto cried, pumping his fist in the air. "That was awesome! I mean, you're like, bam-bam-BAM, and Itachi is down! WOOYEAH!" He continued in that manner, while Yuna and Malik walked over to Raphael.

"You okay?" the gunner asked.

"Yeah," Raphael wheezed. "Just gimme a sec…"

"I didn't know you could do that!" Malik said ecstatically. "Look at you, in just the little time you've been with us, you've become so strong!"

_So_, Kakashi mused, smiling beneath his mask. _This is the power of the Keyblade… Now to take care of— _"Uh-oh,"

Yuna turned back to the silver-haired Jounin. "What's wrong?"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed angrily. "Look," he pointed at the crater where Itachi _should _have been, but in his place, there was only a beat-up chunk of wood. "A substitution jutsu. I should've known. Well, this does complicate things…"

It was at that moment that Tsunade walked in, carrying a large armload of scrolls. "Yuna, I got those maps you asked for— What happened to my office?!"

"Itachi," Kakashi muttered darkly. "And what's more, he's escaped, and it seems he's under the impression that Raphael knows about Naruto."

"Whoa, hold on!" Raphael interrupted. "What's wrong with Naruto?"

"Yeah, he seems fine to me," Yuna added, Malik nodding behind her.

The other three looked away for a moment. Finally, Tsunade sighed. "Twelve years ago, there was a powerful nine-tailed fox demon called the Kyuubi no Youko. It ravaged the countryside, its raw ferocity and power matched only by its insatiable lust for blood. It tried to attack Konoha, but the fourth Hokage of this village fought the Kyuubi in a life-or-death battle. In the end, he won, and sealed the fox spirit away at the cost of his own life."

"To help contain it, he sealed the fox's spirit into a newborn boy," Kakashi spoke up. "And that boy…"

"Was me," Naruto finished sadly. He turned away from Raphael, his body tensed up.

There was a very pregnant pause following this proclamation. "… And? Is that all?" Raphael asked.

Naruto turned back around, his eyes wide. "You're not gonna hate me, or anything?"

"Why? I don't see any reason to," Raphael replied. "I mean, it wasn't your fault you got chosen to have this, and I liked you just fine before I knew. It's just pointless to hate people for things they can't control,"

The boy's eyes widened. Suddenly, Raphael jerked back as he was tackled by Naruto, who hugged his waist tightly. "T-thank you…" he pulled back, wiping tears off on his sleeve. "We're gonna get your friends back, Raphael! Believe it!"

There was an awkward silence after that. Finally, Tsunade spoke up. "'Believe it?' What the hell was that?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, that was really retarded. Sorry," he turned to Raphael. "Well what're we waiting for?! Let's go!" The blonde made a dash for the door, but Tsunade grabbed him by his collar, pulling him back. "Hey! Lemme go!"

"Idiot. We still don't know where they are, Naruto. We have to figure _that_ out before we can do anything!"

Raphael suddenly remembered something. He pulled the printouts from the jet out of his pocket. "Hey, we got a location for Kaiba and Mokuba, they're probably all together!" he handed the papers to Tsunade, who looked over them for a moment. "These are topographic scans of the area…" she frowned, pulling a scroll from a pile on her desk. When she opened it, Raphael noticed that it had the same squiggly lines all over the place as the data from the computer. She examined the two for a minute, before circling an area on the map.

"You've found them?" Yuna asked quietly.

"Yes, I think so…" Tsunade pointed at the map. "It's not exact, and this is a horrible scan, but there's no doubt about it; this location is deep in the heart of the Sound…" She looked forlornly at Raphael. "It could be extremely dangerous to go after them."

"Well we can't just leave them!" Naruto yelled. "What if Sakura's with them?! She might be in danger!"

"Going into the middle of Otogakure, relatively alone, and exhausted is complete and total suicide, Naruto," Tsunade countered. "You've seen Orochimaru fight, and the last time you saw him, he didn't even have use of his arms, which he more than likely does now, and if it's true that both Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha are on his side, then things could become extremely difficult…"

Naruto clenched his fist. "Dammit, Old Lady, I don't care if that bastard and Itachi are dancing in pink kimonos around Orochimaru! I'm still going over there to kick his ass!"

Tsunade's frown deepened. "Naruto, be quiet. I'll gather an ANBU team and have them retrieve their friends. You can't handle Orochimaru, he's just too powerful."

"Rrrrgghhh… AGH!" Naruto kicked Tsunade's desk in rage, before storming out of the room.

"I'm sorry," Tsunade said sadly, "But I can't let you three leave the village, it's just too dangerous."

"But we _want _to help!" Raphael interjected, "And come on! I kicked Itachi's ass last time!"

"You don't get it, do you?" a nerve was twitching in the side of the woman's head. "Itachi-was-just-toying-with you! Itachi and Orochimaru are both extremely powerful ninja, moreso than anyone in this village! You don't stand a chance, _especially _taking into consideration the fact that Orochimaru seems to be behind all the Heartless attacks!"

"Come on, Raphael…" Yuna placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Dammit…" Raphael pushed the hand away, dashing after Naruto.

And on that note, we end this chapter. I apologize, this story arc is running longer than I originally projected, and this chapter is running long.

New Heartless:

Samurai- small, fast Heartless that wield dual katanas.

Shinobi- Heartless that attack with numerous tricks and long-range weapons.

New Keyblades: none

NEXT CHAPTER:

Raphael and Naruto have been forbidden to go after Sakura and the others, but the question is, do they actually follow those orders? Of course not!

So what happens when they finally track down the Uchiha brothers and Orochimaru?

What's with the 'flash of red' Raphael saw in Itachi's eyes?

And what does Orochimaru plan to do with the Heartless Orb?

To be concluded in:

The Heart of the Matter


End file.
